White Alstroemeria
by Fancyravioli
Summary: Alstoemeria. It's a very common flower. In the wild pure white ones are rare. A shinobi with power is rare in this world, so shinobi are being manufactured by selfish villages. Flowers will become a Beast. A Beast will become Flowers.
1. The Love of a Mother

**Helloo Fellow Naruto fans and random passerbys! Thank you for checking out the first chapter of my shtoreh! Now, sorry for those who have read the chapter and are growling at me right now because I just edited it. Now basically my edits were spelling and grammer mistakes. I did add some discriptions for Yajuu, and took some stuff out, but over not much changed from the original chapter.  
>So, if you wish to reread this chapter you can, or if you don't that's fine with me. I promise not to hunt you down if you don't read the edited version.<br>****Thank you again for reading!**

**Yajuu Ref Sheet link is slightly retarded... Because I'm not sure how to add links into the story. I will add the link onto my Profile, if I can figure out how! So! If you wish to look at her reference sheet it is on my Deviantart. My name is Fancyravioli**

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><p>"Hana." A tall brunette man smiled. He was dressed in fancy robes made for a king. The new mother of the child smiled at her new born.<p>

"The princess of the Kingdom of Flowers. Hana." The woman said, as if she couldn't believe it the first time her daughter's name was said. The pink coloured baby was starting to get blood flowing through her, making her turn a little paler. She slept soundlessly while being rocked gently by her mother.

"We'll give her the wolf, Inugami." The child's father said, gaining only a nod from his wife.

-X—

"Sasuke, here at point B."

"Sakura, here at point A."

"…Naruto, here at point C, dattebayo!"

"You're slow Naruto." Silence filled the earpieces of the squad members, waiting for the next order to move. A black flash sprinted through the bushes and a deep voice softly yelled, "The target has moved! Follow it!" The three preteens jumped behind trees, watching the black mass move quickly through the trees. The silver haired man sat back and watched from a distance. "What's your distance from the target?" He asked.

A blonde boy with whisker like scars on his cheeks answered, "Five meters. I can go at anytime, dattebayo."

When the signal was given, the three teens jumped out for the mass. The blonde jumped faster and grabbed the furry ball quickly. He landed on his back while the cat stomped on his face and clawed him violently. He was crying out in pain while his pink haired team mate watched with delight. A black haired boy, the blonde's third team mate was speaking with their sensei about the cat, figuring out if it was in fact their target.

"Alright the mission to capture the missing pet Tora is complete." The teens' sensei said happily. His hidden smile was soon whipped out when a horrendous amount of feedback shot into his ear from the blonde screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Isn't there a mission with a greater sense of urgency!"

-X—

The raven haired male walked behind his happy team, watching them with a bored expression. The pink haired girl held the cat gently, gaining the cats affection. The blonde boy was rubbing his cut up cheeks and pouting.

"Baka cat. You don't deserve any of Sakura-chan's kindness. Nope! You should be thrown into a pit of vicious dogs, dattebayo."

Sakura glared at Naruto and smacked the back of his head. "Knock it off Naruto-kun! This is your own fault!" She continued to pet and coo at the purring cat. Naruto watched the two interact and blushed. Kakashi didn't do anything but read his book while they walked.

Sasuke took this chance to silently slip away. Something caught his eye, causing him to stray from his team and off onto another street. He caught sight of a girl about his age that he'd never seen before. She had thick brown hair that stopped at her shoulders. He couldn't tell if she was a ninja or not, because he was stuck following her from behind slowly. Sasuke was about to calmly walk past her, to see who she was, but she turned her head and looked straight at him. She had a wolf Anbu mask pushed to the side of her head, a shining green eye locking with his dark eyes. He stood frozen as she continued to walk forward, turning her glance forward once again. She knew he was following her from the very beginning.

He quickly jumped away and met up with his team again to find they noticed he'd gone missing.

"Sasuke-kun! Where'd you go?" Sakura whined loudly. He ignored her and continued to walk. Kakashi could sense the shock on the Uchiha. Naruto was glaring at Sasuke once again for the simple fact that Sakura was worried about Sasuke and not him.

-X—

The four stood watching with disgust and horror as a rather large woman rubbed her face against the cat's while wailing, "My adorable Tora! Mommy was sooo worried!" Naruto smirked and snickered. The wife of the land of fire's feudal lord, Daimyo, was torturing the poor cat.

Madame Shijimi shoved her cat into a small cat carrier and left the room while Naruto said to himself, "Serves him right, dattebayo. Baka cat."

An old man sat in the front of the room, large glass windows behind him showed the Hokage faces on the rocks. He was holding a paper in his hand while reading off new missions for Team 7 to take on. "Hm? An errand to the neighboring town….to baby-sit the chief Councilor's son. Or helping dig up potatoes… eh.."

The man wasn't able to finish reading off the list as Naruto stomped his foot onto the ground, his legs spread wide and his arms up in an 'X'. "Noooo!" he shouted in anger. "No! No! No, thank you!" He shouted repeatedly and stopped his foot over and over, legs still spread wide. "I want a more exciting mission!"

Sasuke silently smirked behind Naruto, agreeing with the obnoxious kid. Though he would've said it in a less annoying way. Sakura was just pissed. She was embarrassed to be even around the blonde. And, Kakashi was expecting this completely, he was just wondering how long it would take for Naruto to star complaining. Naruto just didn't understand the chain of power.

"Baka! You're still just a rookie! How dare you think you can just move up the ladder like that!" Iruka started to lecture the kid.

"But! But! These missions are just bleh!" He said yelled back at his old sensei before being roughly punched on the top of his head forcing his body on the ground. He quickly sat up and rubbed the top of his head in pain.

"Requests pour into the village every day. They range from baby-sitting to assassinations. These missions are the recorded into the request list by difficulty. They are separated into the categories A, B, C, and D. Everyone below me is ranked by Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin. The Jounin take care of A level missions, Chuunin get B and C missions, and Genin get C and D level missions." The old man stood up with a scroll in his hand pointing to it with an annoyed look on his face. "If we are successful then we are paid by the client for completing the mission. Nevertheless, you have just become Genin so don't expect to get anything more interesting!"

"Yesterday I had pork-boned broth noodles for lunch, so today will be miso." Naruto explained to his team mates, the three of them listening to the blonde intently.

"Listen!" The old man said. Kakashi blushed and nodded, apologizing to the man.

"You are always lecturing me, old man Hokage! I'm not some stupid little prankster anymore!" Naruto defended himself. Kakashi knew he was going to be lectured later on for Naruto's behavior. Naruto just sat with his back to everyone at the request table, pouting with his arms crossed.

"Fine." The Hokage seemed to say in irritation, despite the smile on his face. Sasuke looked up at the man as well as Sakura. The Hokage continued to smile, but now it was much more sinister. "You guys can have a C rank mission. You'll be bodyguards for someone." He said.

Naruto turned around quickly and slapped his hands to the floor, yelling out excitedly, "Who! Who! A feudal lord? A princess?" the Hokage just nodded at a ninja standing next to the room's door. "Let him in." He ordered.

Team 7 turned to the door curiously and waited for the surprise guest to show themselves. Though when they saw a drunk man leaning on the door way with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. "A bunch a squirts? Particularly the smallest one with the stupid look on his face, are you really a Shinobi?" He asked pointing at Naruto. Naruto stood up and laughed.

"Who's the smallest one with the idiotic look on his face?" he asked, looking up at Sasuke and Sakura who were standing on both sides of him. They just looked down at him till he started to glare at the old man. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU OLD MAN!" he yelled at the drunk while Kakashi held him back.

The squad sensei sighed as he held onto Naruto saying, "What good would it do to kill the person you're supposed to be guarding, baka?" The old man finished chugging his sake and smirked. "I'm Tazuna, a bridge builder in the Land of the Waves. You will be risking your life to keep me safe until my bridge has been finished."

Naruto sighed and turned away. Kakashi looked at the Hokage and nodded, "We'll take it." He said and started to leave the room, dragging Naruto with him.

"Wait! Before you leave." The Hokage said and sat down. "I need to introduce you to someone else." Sasuke looked at the Anbu masked person standing next to the Hokage. Inside he leapt out of his skin. _'Was she there this whole time? Why didn't I notice it?'_ He thought to himself, an angered look on his face. Kakashi looked at the Anbu faced kunoichi. She came from nowhere. He took in her features.

Brown hair that stopped mid-way between her shoulders and her chin. He could see that much with the mask blocking her face. She wore a wolf Anbu mask with red designs shyly painted onto the white surface. She had on a black strapless sports bra with a long sleeved fishnet shirt over top it. From her elbow down she wore black, loose wrist covers that stopped at the middle of the back of her hand and were connected to her hand with a jewel string and a knuckle ring on her middle finger. This was on both arms. Then she wore the normal black shinobi kapris but with a slight modification. On her left leg her pant leg was white instead of black. Her Kuni holster hid the seam that was the change between two colors. Yajuu also wore blue ninja sandals. On her left hand she wore another ring with flower petals on it, shaped to look like the ring was wind and the petals were flying through the wind. And on the two knuckle rings were the petal ninja symbol. She sure was a kunoichi Anbu, but was still so young. Kakashi couldn't judge her completely, for he was a prodigy child himself.

Sasuke knew this girl's features already, seeing her before hand in the streets. But this time she had her mask on fully instead of half way covering her face. Naruto was tilting his head to the side, confused. "Wait… Why are we meeting her?" Naruto asked curiously. Sakura sighed, embarrassed, though she didn't know what the point of this was either, but she wouldn't admit to it.

The Hokage smiled and held his hand open at her. "She is an Anbu Black Ops and the newest member of Team 7. Yajuu."


	2. An Elbow in His Shoulder

**Again thank you guys for the support and for reading at least this far! I also edited this chapter but just like before I wont be hurt if you don't read the edited version. But I did add some stuff to it, not much though. Just some stuff to add to Yajuu's character.**

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><p>The group of 6 stepped out of Konaha at a casual pace. Naruto was whooping in joy. Sasuke had an annoyed look on his face as well as Sakura. Tazuna was drunk off his butt, Kakashi wasn't paying any attention to anyone, and Yajuu was watching the team interact with a smile, even though no one could see it behind her mask.<p>

"Alright!" Naruto yelled and turned towards the team with his fists raised up happily.

Sakura crossed her arms and coolly asked, "What are you so excited about?"

Naruto was looking around his person quickly, taking in the sites of the world outside of Konaha. "Well, you see, I've never actually left the village before!" He exclaimed.

"Am I really going to be safe stuck with this squirt?" Tazuna teased once again, but Naruto again took serious offense to it.

Kakashi just coyly laughed explaining, "I'm a Jounin and will be keeping a close eye on him. So don't you worry." And smiled behind his mask. Naruto mentally growled. He wished that he could just punch this old man in the face. And what was with Kakashi-sensei taking the drunk's side? Tazuna had to be the worst client in the world, and Naruto thought he'd have to tell him a thing or two.

"Hey old man! Don't be mocking Shinobi so much!" He yelled pointing at the old man. "I'm awesome! Just you wait and see, dattebayo!" Yajuu watched Naruto with curiosity. How could he not see that this man wasn't mocking Shinobi, he was mocking Naruto himself. "I'm a super elite shinobi who will one day be Hokage! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! So remember it!"

Tazuna just took another swig of his sake before responding. "The Hokage is the super top dog in the Village right? You sure as heck don't seem like you could become Hokage."

"Shut up! I'll do whatever it takes to become Hokage! You'll have to acknowledge me then!." Naruto yelled in his defense. Man this old man was pushing every last button, making him even angrier than when being so coolly shown up by Sasuke. Yajuu smiled when Naruto's anger flooded into her mind.

"Even if you become Hokage, I'll never acknowledge you." Tazuna smirked, gaining a threat of his life from Naruto and Kakashi holding the blonde back by his collar.

Yajuu watched the scene play out then looked to Sasuke and Sakura. "Is this always how he acts?" She asked. Sakura nodded with an annoyed look on her face.

"Naruto-kun is so stupid." Sakura said with a tone that told her level of patience with the blonde was thin. "He just spouts out nonsense and expects everyone to care. What a baka." Sasuke didn't say a word, but Yajuu didn't need him to know that she knew he thought the blonde was useless. Yajuu glared at the scowling teen and continued to walk behind Tazuna.

-X—

"Ne, Tazuna-san." Sakura started. "Your country is The Land of the Waves right?"

Tazuna was pouting, probably because Naruto wasn't talking to him anymore, which gave him no chance to jump on him and tease the boy more. "What of it?"

"Kakashi-sensei are there ninja in that land too?" She asked. Yajuu looked at Sakura. Of course there were shinobi in the other lands! Maybe not in the Land of the Waves, but in the hidden villages in the country. She should've learned that in the academy shouldn't she have? Yajuu, herself, was from a hidden village that was made solely to protect the hidden kingdom in her home land.

"Not in the Land of Waves, no. But with different cultures and countries there are hidden villages around and those have shinobi." Kakashi said, starting his explanation. "To the many nations on the continent the existence of Shinobi Villages are a measure of the nation's military power. In other words, that is how these nations maintain their relationships with the neighboring nations. Even so, these villages are not under the control of the nations. They are equal in rank. On a small Island like the Lave of Waves where it is difficult to be influenced by other nations, there is no need for a Shinboi Village." He explained. Sakura still wasn't getting it, and now Naruto was on the wagon of confusion. "The five nations of 'Fire,' 'Water,' 'Lightning,' 'Wind,' and 'Earth,' due to their large territory and immeasurable power, are called the five great nations. The Village Hidden in the Leaves of the Land of Fire. The Village Hidden in the Mist of the Land of Water. The Village Hidden in the Clouds of the Land of Lightning. The Village Hidden in the Sand of the Land of Wind. And, the Village Hidden in the Rocks of the Land of Earth. Only the Leaders of these Villages are allowed to have the name of Kage, the shadow, that reign over the tens of thousands of Ninjas."

Kakashi was correct in that sense, but there were still other smaller nations with Shinobi, like the Land of the Flower has the Village Hidden in the Petals. But these smaller countries were not considered one of the 5 great nations. Tazuna's home land, The Land of Waves, could have shinobi if they so wished, but they would be used as protection for the Village/Land more than a Military force. The Kingdom of Flowers used the Village Hidden in the Petals for that specific reason. Nothing more than just stupid bodyguards for their stupid nobles and stupid royalty.

Sakura happily squeal, "Lord Hokage is that incredible!" Inside Sakura was really questioning whether or not the old Kage really was that special. Naruto was thinking the same thing in a sense.

"OI!" the two froze. "You just doubted Lord Hokage just now, didn't you?" Kakashi asked. Naruto and Sakura quickly shook their heads back and forth. Yajuu laughed loudly at her own thoughts of the old man, gaining a strange glance from the others. "What's so funny?" Kakashi asked her.

Yajuu continued to giggle. "Nothing Kaka-sensei." She said and started walking faster. She was trying to get away from the awkward thoughts in her head. Konahamaru had caught her attention on her way to see the Hokage and told her about the incident between his grandfather and Naruto. She couldn't stop giggling about it either. Kakashi's eyebrow ticked inwards.

"Kaka-sensei?" He asked her calmly. Yajuu calmly ignored the man as she walked next to Naruto.

Naruto looked at Yajuu with a smile. "What was so funny?" He asked curiously. Yajuu told him and he laughed along with her. "That's what I was thinking too!" He shouted and looked at the masked girl. "Ne! Ne, are you really an Anbu?" he asked the brunette.

Yajuu nodded and said, "Yep! I earned it in my home village." She said. Naruto nodded as if he were thinking hard about it, but he didn't fool the Anbu.

"Yajuu! Where are you from?" Naruto asked as they walked.

Sasuke had been curious about that as well, but he doubted the girl would tell any of them. She could be on a top secret mission and telling them could jeopardize it. Come on, what Anbu comes to Konaha just because they wanted to move nations?

"I'm from the Village hidden in the Petals" Yajuu exclaimed. Sasuke mentally slammed his head against a tree and focused on listening. Sakura ran up to the two and looked at Yajuu. Kakashi silently listened, curious about this unknown girl. The Hokage hadn't filled him in on anything whatsoever.

"Yajuu-sempai, where is that?" Sakura asked. Yajuu mentally smiled at the added sempai. Naruto nodded in agreement. "Cause, I mean I've never heard of a Hidden Village like that before."

Yajuu touched the mask where her nose was and thought. "Well. It's a village that is currently used for protection of a kingdom. It's on a small island off the coast of the Lighting Nation. But we are just the kingdom and the village on the island so we don't have a whole lot of problems with others or needing a Kage." She nodded. "In fact the reason is because the king's son is in charge of the military operations. So he's kinda like our Kage. We recently underwent some serious changes I guess. I don't remember them though. The shinobi of our land are new. We've only had shinobi for 13 years now so we are still building up our ranks and power." She smiled.

Sasuke looked at Yajuu puzzled. "You have only had shinobi for 13 years now? So when did you start training?" Yajuu looked back at Sasuke, no emotion being shown since her face was hidden by a mask.

"Why do you ask Tori-tori." She called him. Sasuke glared back and turned his head to the side, nose up. Sakura mentally wished she could tackle Yajuu for teasing Sasuke So she quickly switched sides and grabbed Sasuke's arm.

"Don't worry Sasuke-kun. She's just being ridiculous." Sakura tried to comfort him.

Yajuu glared at the girl. "I started training when I was 5. I graduated when I was 8, and became an Anbu, completely skipping the ranks of Chuunin. So I've been a shinobi for… 4 years now if you only consider being a shinobi after you leave the academy." She didn't mention anything of why she moved through the ranks so quickly. That wasn't for any of these folks to know about. Yajuu half expected Naruto to be in awe along with Sakura with some jealous on the side. But, Sasuke was different. He was angry, and mind full of hatred. Yajuu wondered if it was because now the Uchiha hated her, or if it was because she remind him of someone.

Kakashi stepped in and placed his hand on Yajuu's head. "Well there's no need to brag. Your skills as a kunoichi won't really be needed anyway since there are no shinobi battles in Rank C missions." He explained. Yajuu grumbled from embarrassment.

Sakura smiled and started kissing up to the silver haired man. "Good! Then there's no worry of getting into a fight with foreign shinobi."

"Of course not!" Kakashi laughed. Yajuu looked at Tazuna, who had a look of horror on his face. Or more of self loathing. Sasuke looked calm, but Naruto looked like he was constipated…. Or upset. Yajuu couldn't really tell.

-X—

Yajuu was walking with Naruto, the two discussing favorite foods and flavors while the rest of the group silently walked behind them.

"Miso flavor is my favorite because it's kind of sweet while having that sour taste from the seaweed." She explained to Naruto. "But flower topped hamburger is still my absolute favorite." She exclaimed.

"Explain to me again what that is?" Naruto asked for the 4th time. Yajuu didn't mind though because she loved the delicious meal. Everyone else was pretty tired of listening to them talk.

Yajuu looked at a small water puddle that passed by them while Naruto was asking for another explaination. Curious. What was a random puddle of water doing here? "Well its hamburger cooked to the person desired rareness. Then you take an egg and you crack it slowly into a flower. It's a difficult thing to learn. I'm still practicing my flower making. You could the egg till the yolk is still soft and gooey, but the white stuff is nice and cooked. Then you put the egg on top of the hamburger and eat!" She smiled happily.

As soon as she was finished explaining the whole group looked back at Kakashi who was wrapped tightly in a spiked chain. Yajuu quickly pulled out a kuni and ran for the shinobi cowering behind their sensei.

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Yajuu stood frozen as Kakashi was pulled into pieces by the chain tightening around his body. Sakura covered her eyes, fear filling her veins. "Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled for his fallen leader. Yajuu ran for the two shinobi before looking back at Naruto. He looked at her confused. "What!" He yelled for her and then froze as a soft yet violent voice whispered in his ear. "Now for the second one."

Yajuu looked at the closer comrade, Sasuke and nodded. The raven haired male grabbed a star and Kuni knife and threw the star quickly. The chains that were flying towards Naruto were pushed backwards into a tree, held in place by the following kuni. One of the shinobi looked back at the chain and growled, "It won't come off!" Naruto looked at the two shinobi standing next to him in fear, body trembling.

Sakura quickly moved to defend Tazuna from any other hidden Ninja. Sasuke appeared behind Naruto, standing on the two Shinobi's metal plated arms while quickly grabbing a hold of them tightly. Yajuu grabbed Naruto and pulled him away from the three shinobi behind him, defending the blonde from any other hidden shinobi. Sasuke smirked and quickly shoved his feet into the stunned Shinobi's faces, forcing their bodies to fall away, breaking the chains.

The two quickly recovered and one ran for Tazuna when the other ran for Yajuu and Naruto. Sakura was fighting herself inside, trying to convince herself to kill the ninja running for her. "Get back!" She yelled at Tazuna, kuni up for defense. Sasuke quickly jumped in front of Sakura and Tazuna , his arms out to take the blow he'd have to face.

Yajuu pushed Naruto to the ground and jumped into the air, summer salting, and then landing a kicked onto the back of the Shinobi's head, forcing his face onto the ground.

The shinobi going for Sasuke was quickly yanked back by his throat, forcing the rest of his body to keep moving limply forward, choking him. Kakashi held him in a head lock and coolly looked at Naruto and Yajuu. "Yo!"

Sakura smiled, happy Kakashi was alive. Sasuke was complaining the man was a show off, pissed that he wasn't able the chance to take the shinobi out himself. Naruto looked at Kakashi confused and then realized it. He looked back at the pile that was supposed to be Kakashi's chopped up remains and saw a pile of small logs. Yajuu frowned. She was just getting excited to fight too.

"Naruto, sorry I wasn't able to help you sooner. But, it looks like Yajuu was able to help you out for me." Kakashi smiled. Yajuu scowled. "I got you hurt. But, I didn't think you'd freeze up like that." Yajuu glared even more harshly at Kakashi. That wasn't fair to Naruto! She looked at the blonde though, confused as to how the boy got hurt. She didn't see him get hurt. Kakashi stepped up to Sasuke and Sakura. "De, good job Sasuke. You too Sakura." He smiled and looked at Tazuna. Naruto had a look of shock on his face. Yajuu knew why too. Kakashi just pushed Naruto aside and went off to compliment his rival and crush. Nobody wants to hear that.

Yajuu knew that Naruto hadn't really helped all that much, but he wasn't useless. He was there to distract the Shinobi to allow Sakura to protect Tazuna! And, what about her for that matter, why didn't Kaka-sensei compliment her. She protected Naruto! She looked at the blonde and could sense the boy doubting himself, convincing himself he was useless. Yajuu hadn't expected anyone to really be able to fight those Shinobi. This was their first real battle is what she noticed. But, Sasuke. He acted like this wasn't the first time he was put in the position to defend for his life. He was scared and didn't get dirty at all.

Sasuke turned to face Naruto and smiled. "Yo!" Yajuu looked at the Uchiha and waited to hear what he had to say. Hopefully not something stupid to push her mood into an even more frustrated zone."Are you hurt...scaredy cat." Naruto growled and was about to run for Sasuke when Kakashi called for him.

"These guys had poison on their claws. You might not want to move around that much and take that poison out quickly." Naruto looked at his cut hand and bit his tongue. "You have to open the wound and drain the poison quickly. Oh and Tazuna-san. We need to talk."

Yajuu calmly placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Don't worry Naru-kun. I'll take care of him. You get rid of the poison." She whispered and looked straight at the Uchiha. She smirked as he looked back at her figure only to find she had disappeared. Yajuu slammed her elbow onto the raven haired teen's shoulder, pushing on the nerves under his skin. He knelt down quickly latching onto his shoulder and looked back at her only to be kicked in the face, and his head pushed into the ground. He groaned in pained and Kakashi yelled at Yajuu to knock it off., She backed away from Sasuke a step and smirked. "Talk like that to Naru again, and see what happens." She snapped, defending her friend. Though they'd only been with each other a few days, Yajuu had a friendship with Naruto. Which was something she never got in her homeland.

Sakura quickly moved to Sasuke's aid while she threatened Yajuu. "Don't push Sasuke-kun around like that you big jerk! He was just teasing Naruto for his carelessness!" Yajuu ignored the pink haired girl and walked back over to Naruto. He was looked at Yajuu was a big smile.

"Holy crap! You took him down like it was nothing!" He cheered, though he really wanted to do it himself.


	3. Fear of Her Reflection

**Hey what's up guys. Thanks for checking out chapter 3. For those of you who are following, if you don't know, I edited and updated chapters 2 and 3! Nothing to serious, but I did add, take out, and change a couple of stuff.**

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><p>Kakashi stood in front of the mist ninja, having them already tied to a tree. "These were Chuunin from the village hidden in the mist." He said calmly. Yajuu looked at them and sighed. "Ruthless, they are known for charging into a fight no matter the risk."<p>

"How were you able to detect our movements?" The long haired shinobi growled.

Kakashi looked at them like morons. "There probably wouldn't be puddles of water on a clear day like today, when it hasn't rained for days."

Tazuna looked at Kakashi with a glare. "Knowing that why'd you make the kids fight them, if you didn't believe they could?"

"If I felt like it," Kakashi started. "I could kill these guys instantly." Yajuu nodded in agreement, despite her doubts. "But, I had to know who these guys were targeting." He said, glaring back at Tazuna. Yajuu looked at the old man and sighed. Why hadn't she thought of that? Maybe she was too focused on the flowered topped hamburger to really think about it.

Tazuna gave an 'I'm trying not to look guilty as I lie to you' look as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Kakashi was annoyed, the 4 kids could tell. "I meant I had to know if the target was you or one of us. We haven't heard anything about you being targeted by other shinobi. The content of the request was supposed to just be protection from gangs, thieves, and guys like that. This is a mission with a B rank or higher. If our enemies were to be shinobi, then the mission, without a second thought, would become an expensive B rank mission. It looks like there's some kind of explanation for this, but being lied to just won't do. This is beyond the scope of our mission."

Sakura looked worried. "This mission is too soon for us. We just got out of the academy. So let's just give it up!" she said calmly and shrugged her shoulders. "We need an anesthetic to open Naruto's wound and get the poison out. We have to return to the village and take him to a doctor."

Everyone looked at Naruto. The blonde was just staring at his hand, anger towards himself showing. When he noticed them staring he asked, "What?"

"This sure is a burden." Kakashi said looking up at the sky. Yajuu looked worriedly at Kakashi. The man wouldn't just let Naruto die would he? He couldn't be that heartless, could he? "Since we need to treat Naruto's wound shall we go back to the village?"

Naruto bit his tongue and growled. He wasn't about to give up on this mission. He pulled a kuni knife out of his leg pouch and rammed it into his wound quickly, ignoring the fear of stabbing himself. "Naruto!" Yajuu yelled out worriedly. "What are you doing?" The blonde just smiled and looked at everyone.

"I'm going to swear on the pain in my left hand! I protect you old man, with this kuni knife!" Naruto gave a cocky giggle and said, "This mission continues!"

Kakashi sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Naruto, that's all well and good to get rid of the poisoned blood and such, but now if you lose anymore than that you'll bleed to death." Everyone was silent and looked at Naruto with a tired and annoyed look. Yajuu quickly ran to Naruto.

Yajuu grabbed his hand quickly and stared at it with a serious face, though no one could see it with the mask on=. "Kaka-sensei! Help Naruto!" Naruto was blue in the face as he yelled out for someone to help him.

"AAAH! Dame! Damedamedamedame!" He yelled over and over while waving his arm in the air. "I can't die like this, dattebayo!"

Kakashi crouched down in front of the flailing boy and said, "Show me your hand." Naruto gave his hand to Kakashi quickly and whimpered.

Sakura stood next to Kakashi and lectured the boy. "Naruto! You really are self abusive aren't you!"

Yajuu giggled. "That's called masochism Naru-kun!" She explained to the worried boy. Yajuu thought that giving Naruto a soothing and calm voice to listen to would help him calm down. As Kakashi looked at Naruto's hand Yajuu stopped moving completely. She looked at Naruto and was completely silent.

Naruto looked at Yajuu confused. She heard something softly whispering. _'Stupid boy. You're carelessness will get me killed.'_

'_Who's laughing now Kyuubi. At least my Medium is responsible.' _Yajuu looked at the blonde and realized it.

"N-ne…. you have a really serious look on your face Kakashi-sensei. Am I okay?" he said, trembling.

"Well, so long as you don't make a habit of stabbing yourself in the hand, you should be alright." Kakashi said as he wrapped the healing wound.

-X—

Yajuu looked at herself in the water. She'd been wearing her mask every time she was with the team, refusing to allow her face to be seen by the others. Everyone had been silent since the starting of the boat ride to the Land of the Waves's island. "This fog is so thick. You can't see anything." Tazuna looked at his feet and sighed.

"The bridge should be visible soon." The boat driver said. "When we've reached the starting of the bridge, well be in the Land of Waves."

Naruto jumped up in the boat, causing it to rock slightly, Yajuu tightly latching onto Kakashi as it did so. "Woooow! It's huge!" Naruto said as his voice squeaked.

The boat driver looked like he was about to pee himself as he told Naruto, " H-hey! Please keep it down. I took this boat out under cover of fog. And I cut the engine and am rowing by hand. If they find us, we'll be in deep trouble." Naruto covered his mouth and sat down, causing the boat to shake again, Yajuu latching onto Kakashi again.

"Yajuu. Calm down alright." Kakashi said to the girl, patting her head gently. She was an Anbu, and yet super afraid of water? "Tazuna-san. I want to ask you something before we arrive. The identity of your assailants, and the reason why they are after you. If you don't tell us, our mission may fail when we hit land."

Tazuna looked like he wanted to get it off his chest, the feeling of guilt and fear. "I guess I have no choice. Frankly, I'd rather tell you." Yajuu and the other three teens looked at Tazuna, curious of his story, while Kakashi's masked face held no emotion. "Like you said, this may be beyond the scope of your mission. I am being targeted by a terrifying man."

"A terrifying man?" Yajuu repeated.

"Who?" Kakashi asked calmly.

"You guys have probably heard his name at least. He is a shipping magnate by the name of Gato."

Kakashi looked shocked, his visible eye wide. "Gato? Of the Gato company?"

Yajuu wasn't familiar with this name at all. The people of her island never made any contact with the nations or the mainland.

"Yes. On the surface he's the chief executive of a shipping company, but in reality he has dug into drug trafficking and deals in contrabands using gangs and ninjas. Moreover, he runs a despicable business, ruthlessly taking over nations and enterprises. It was about one year ago when he first set his eyes on the land of the Waves. He used his wealth and violence to enter the country, and before anyone knew he had complete control of the island's maritime transportation and shipping. Having a tight gripping on the ocean, in an island nation like this, means having control of finance, the government, the people. Everything. The one things thing Gato fears is the completion of my bridge."

Yajuu understood a little bit better now. "So those shinobi were Gato's men?" she said softly. Naruto was still a bit confused, but Yajuu could see the understanding on Sasuke and Sakura's faces.

"Well if you've got a dangerous enemy then why hide that fact when you made the request?" Kakashi asked the trouble bridge builder.

"The land of the Waves is a poor nation. Even the feudal lords have no money. So of course we ordinary people have no money so we can't make a request of B or higher. But if your pull out of the mission when we land, I no doubt will be killed. Killed before I can make it home. But there's no need for concern!" Yajuu looked confused. No need for concern? How so? Wasn't he the bridge builder? How could it not be of concern? "Should I die, my cute grandson who will turn eight soon will just cry and cry his heart out!" He said in a wailing sort of way, trying to sound like a child crying. "And my daughter will only blame the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Oh no it won't be your fault at all!" Naruto and Sasuke sighed. So that was his plan.

"Stupid old man. We didn't need sarcasm to get us to help you." Yajuu grumbled. Kakashi scratched his forehead as he thought.

"Well I guess we have no choice then.. Let's keep being bodyguards!" He decided while his Genin and Anbu groaned out of annoyment.

"Oh! I am most grateful!" Tazuna shouted happily. Yajuu sighed. '_The old man had this planned the whole time._ _He probably had plenty of time these past few days to think about how to keep us along. Sneaky, sneaky.' _ She thought.

Yajuu and Naruto moved up towards the front of the boat as they moved through a dark tunnel. Yajuu was hoping to be out of the boat soon and thought that whatever lay beyond this black place would have to be her way out.

When they made it through the tunnel both teens smiled in awe. Half the town was built on the water, with trees and other plants growing around. The group landed safely and said thanks to the boat driver before Tazuna turned towards them. "Okay! Now get me home safely!"

"Hai, hai!" Yajuu said happily, glad to be on steady ground again. As soon as they were on the road again Sasuke and Naruto started to compete with each other, walking in front of each other. Yajuu watched as Naruto ran in front of the group and looked around quickly.

"THERE!" He yelled and threw a kuni knife to his left. Everyone looked at him surprised and rather afraid. "Hm…just a mouse."

"What are you doing you baka! Quit trying to show off!" Sakura yelled at him, slamming her fist on the top of his head.

"Please! Naruto, don't use kuni knives so recklessly! They're really dangerous!" Kakashi warned the boy. Tazuna looked like he almost had a stroke,

"Hey you brat! Don't do anything stupid!" The old man yelled.

Naruto threw another one to his right this time. "Over there!" He shouted. Sakura punched him again and screamed to stop. Yajuu had a feeling of death overcome her.

Yajuu walked over to the place Naruto threw his kuni knife and found a snow white rabbit laying on the ground in shock with a kuni knife in a tree right about its head.

"Naru-kun! You almost hurt the poor thing!" She said as she lifted the rabbit up above her head. Lifting the rabbit for everyone to see was not for that true purpose though. She was really showing Kakashi. Could this be another trap? A snow white rabbit wandering around in the spring?

"Naruto what have you done!" Sakura screamed at the sight of the rabbit.

'It's a bunny!" He said and ran to Yajuu. He grabbed the rabbit and rubbed his cheek against it. "Gomeeen. I didn't mean to. Gomen, bunny."

Tazuna sighed in relief. "Just a rabbit."

Kakashi looked at his team and yelled, "Hurry! Run!" the teens looked at their sensei with fear. What could make this man so nervous. Tazuna looked even more scared than them. A large grey object, as big as Yajuu herself came flying towards them. She quickly hit the ground, covering her head with her arms.

She heard a loud thud as the object hit a tree. She looked back and found a man with a bandage mask and a mist symbol carved into his hitai-te, standing on the handle of a large sword, staring at her team. Staring at Tazuna. She quickly stood up and pulled her kuni out, ready to attack the unwelcomed guest. "Who are you!" She loudly snapped at the mystery man.

Everyone stood and stared at the man, making Yajuu wonder why they weren't readying for an attack. "Well, well. If it isn't the Rogue Ninja of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza!" Kakashi said calmly. Yajuu stared at her sensei confused. A rogue Nin, who hasn't been caught yet, and Kashi-sensei was treating him like a friend he hadn't seen in years. Yajuu looked over at Naruto who was running towards the man, and took the blonde's lead. She quickly ran for him, but she and her blonde counterpart were stopped by Kakashi's hands, palm open towards them. "You're in the way. Get back, you guys." Yajuu bit her tongue and growled softly. She wasn't in the way! She was trying to help!

"Why?" Naruto tried to defend himself.

Kakashi calmly responded, "This guy is on a totally different level from the guys we faced today." Yajuu snickered. _'Yea? And so am I!'_ she thought.

"I assume you are Kakashi, the Sharingan user…" Zabuza said calmly, turning just his head to look at the group. No eyebrows. This gave Yajuu chills. So to distract herself from the creepiness of the loss of the eyebrows, she looked at Sasuke, who was starting at Kakashi with confusion.

"Gomen, but I'll have to have you hand over the old man." Zabuza growled. Yajuu looked back and shivered. Again, the loss of eyebrows was getting to her.

"Get in Manji battle formation. Yajuu, protect their front. Protect Tazuna." Kakashi ordered, gaining a quick response from the team as they followed the man's instructions. "Don't involve yourself in this fight. That's the teamwork of this mission." Yajuu grumbled to herself. She was quickly distracted from her mental complaining once Kakashi had lifted his mask to reveal his left eye. Opening it, his crimson eye shone with three tomoe inside. The large scar that went from his eyebrow to below his face mask made the man look even fiercer. "Fight me." He simply said to the second masked man. Yajuu looked at his eye with slight fear and confusion. What was with his eye? And why was Sasuke so worked up over it?

"Oooh. I never expected to see your Sharingan this soon. This is an honor." Zabuza calmly exclaimed.

Yajuu was about to ask what this 'Sharingan' thing was. A technique? A demon? Naruto quickly took her chance though and started complaining. "Everyone's been saying Sharingan! What is it?"

Sasuke looked at his feet and clenched his fists. "Sharingan. Power that the light of the eye generates, and the pupil emanates. The user of the so-called Visual Jutsu is said to posses the vision to see through all Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu, and is able to deflect them. The Sharingan is a type of eye that is unique to the visual jutsu. However, that is not the only power of the Sharingan." Sasuke explained to the group, not pausing between anything. It was as if he had always known what a Sharingan was. Yajuu had never once heard of the jutsu, but she also recognized that she was a sheltered ninja and knew nothing of outside jutsu.

"Well said kid. But that is not all. What's more frightening is that such an eye can assess an opponent's techniques and copy them." Zabuza said slowly, as fog started to grow around them Yajuu looked at Kakashi. "When I was in the Anbu Black Ops of the Hidden Mist, search information about you was in the Bingo Book I would carry around with me. There was also something else in the book…About the man who has copied over one thousand skills Kakashi the Copy Ninja. It looks like some of your play mates have a background as well." Yajuu looked at Zabuza with wide eyes, her body trembling for a moment. He was talking about her. Zabuza was looking straight at her.

_'No…You need to calm down Yajuu. Just relax. He couldn't have seen your face.' _Yajuu calmed herself down, biting her tongue till it bleed.

Zabuza slowly crouched down and grabbed the handle of his sword as he said, "Let's end the talking here. I must kill that old man immediately." The three Genin quickly put up their guard as Tazuna trembled before them. "But, Kakashi, it seems I have to defeat you first."

"Kaka-sensei! Be careful!" She shouted at him and quickly took her defensive stance. Zabuza shoved his foot into the tree as he pulled his giant sword out of it. Yajuu watched him appear on the water, gathering his chakra.

"Over there!" Naruto shouted.

"And, he's standing on the water!" Sakura said, like it was a Kage level technique to learn.

"Ninja Art, _Kirigakure no Jutsu," _Zabuza said softly, almost too softly for Yajuu to hear. Then the fog started too thicken, almost to the point where they couldn't see their sensei.

Naruto looked around him. "He vanished?" He whined.

Kakashi stood in front of the group. "He'll probably come to kill me first."

Sakura held her Kuni tighter as she asked Kakashi, "What is he? And who was that white person he mentioned earlier?" Yajuu bit her tongue to keep her from making any noise as she was unknowingly mentioned.

"Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi was calm. Yajuu could sense it. "He's and Anbu Black Ops member in the Hidden Mist and is known as 'the silent killing' technique expert."

"Anbu? So he's like Yajuu-chan?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi nodded. "The 'silent killing technique' is a killing skill that's implemented in an instant in silence. By the time you realize it, it's possible you may find yourself in the afterlife. I haven't totally mastered the use of my Sharingan. So don't lower you guard, you guys. But the flower I know nothing about."

Yajuu could feel Naruto's hot breath on her neck behind her. Heavy, frightened breathing.

"Well. If we fail we only die." Kakashi shrugged. Yajuu growled softly. She wasn't one to take death so lightly. It was a sensitive subject to her. But she could feel him bluffing inside, she could feel his fear.

"How can you be so carefree?" Sakura scolded her sensei. As the team waited for Zabuza to attack the mist was becoming even thicker.

But, Naruto had to make sure everyone noticed and said, "The mist is steadily getting thicker, dattebayo!"

Tazuna rolled his eyes and looked at Naruto as if he was a moron. "The Land of waves is surrounded by the ocean. So, mist rises very easily." This time when Yajuu went to look back at Kakashi, he was gone, hidden in the misted of the fog.

Yajuu closed her eyes and listened, focusing her chakra to her ears to try and find their location. "8 spots." Yajuu heard. Sakura looked around themselves frantically.

"What?" she said softly to herself.

"The larynx, the spine, the lungs, the liver, the jugular and the subclavian veins. The kidneys, the heart." The voice of Zabuza sounded from every angle around them. Yajuu couldn't tell where he was coming from. "Now then, which spot would be good?" Yajuu's heart skipped.

Kakashi quickly built his chakra and then shot it out around him and his team, becoming visible to them once again by clearing the mist around them. Yajuu watched as her body relaxed, arms dropping to her sides. She could feel Sasuke trembling behind her from Kakashi's thirst for blood. She felt him refuse to move if possible and looked back at him, nothing about her face visible because of the Anbu mask covering it. She could feel her teammate's anxiety level rise as he looked like he was going insane. She watched the raven haired boy clutch his Kuni knife tightly, readying to stab himself with it, when she reached her hand out and placed it on Sasuke's hands. She held up a finger to her mask, telling him not to make a sound.

"Sasuke, Don't worry. I'll protect you life my life. I will not allow my comrades…" He paused. "My friends to get killed." Kakashi said as he turned and smiled at the boy. Sasuke's trembling stopped and she could feel Sasuke's mind calm.

Yajuu growled, jumped in front of Tazuna and pushed him onto his butt as Zabuza said, "I wonder about that." And appeared between the group of 4 kids. Tazuna looked at Yajuu as she placed a Kuni to Zabuza's throat. Kakashi appeared in front of Zabuza, a kuni shoved deeply into his belly as the man groaned in pain.


	4. A Bite to the Hand

Water fell to the ground quickly as Kakashi twisted his blade inside Zabuza's body. Yajuu jumped back and defended the downed Tazuna, looking around for the real Zabuza.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the Rogue Shinobi. Yajuu held her kunai tightly as she begain trembling. She wanted to go after the Rogue, but couldn't bring herself to leave Tazuna's side. She was afraid if she did, he'd be open for attack, especially since everyone else was still picking themselves up off the ground.

Zabuza screamed, threatening Kakashi, "DIE!" as he swung his sword right through the man's middle. Zabuza was left smirking, until the remains he'd now left, turned to water and made the puddle on the ground bigger.

Kakashi appeared behind the ninja, a kunai to his throat. Yajuu smirked. _'So Kaka-sensei was able to copy it that quickly? And in the mist?'_

Naruto and Sakura were in the process of cheering on their sensei, sure the battle was over. "You won't be able to beat me just by acting like a monkey. Not a chance. But I must say you're good. My _Mizu Bunshin No Jutsu _was being copied at the point. By letting the clone talk as if it were you, you succeeded in distracting me. And you used _Kirigakure no Jutsu_ to hide yourself to see me. But," Zabuza smirked and another one of him appeared behind Kakashi. "I'm no fool."

The Zabuza Kakashi had a kuni to turned to water and Naruto shouted, "That one was a fake too!" Kakashi tuned just fast enough to duck beneath Zabuza's swinging sword, but not fast enough to miss the man's kick into the water. Zabuza ran to the water and went on to flip backwards into the cold liquid. "SENSEI!" Naruto screamed.

Sasuke was watching the fight on the edge of his feet. "His Taijutsu skills are extremely good."

Yajuu watched as Zabuza made hand signs behind the surfaced Kakashi, and watched as the silver haired man was lifted into a ball of water.

Zabuza laughed as he told Kakashi, "This is my _Suirou no Jutsu_. You so foolishly got caught. This is a special prison from which it is impossible to escape from. Now, I'll have to settle things with you later. First, I'll finish off those guys. _Mizu Bushin no Jutsu._"

The water puddles on the ground lifted into the air and formed another Zabuza. "You're acting big, wearing a hitai-te like a shinobi. A real shinobi is one who has hovered between life and death numerous times. In other words, only those who are worth being listed in my bingo book deserve to be called shinobi. Guys like you can't be called real ninja."

Yajuu watched with wide eyes as Naruto was kicked into the air, flying straight for her. She held out her arms as the blonde's back collided with her chest. She gasped as the wind was knocked out for her as she landed on her back, Naruto onto of her. Naruto slowly rolled off Yajuu and groaned. "N-naru, y-you're heavy." She mumbled and reached for her ribs. Nothing felt severely injured, but she was winded. Naruto slowly stood up and looked at Zabuza, anger in his eyes as the man slammed his foot on Naruto's hitai-te. "You're just a kid!"

"Naruto! Yajuu!" Sakura said worriedly.

"You four! Take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi yelled from his water prison. "You have no chance against this guy." Yajuu glared at Kakashi. She was an Anbu. She could take this guy out if she wanted to! "As long as he has me trapped in the water prison, he won't be able to move from here. And his clone won't be able to move far from his original body! Just run for it! NOW!" Kakashi screamed at his team.

Sasuke clenched his fist and ran for Zabuza. "We'll just have to do it ourselves." He said and threw 5 shuriken at the water clone. The clone, swiped his sword and knocked the stars all away. As he did this, Sasuke jumped into the air and held a kunai tightly in both hands as he flew down towards the clone. The clone easily lifted his hand and caught Sasuke by the throat, holding him in the air as he clenched his hand around the thin throat easily. He tossed Sasuke aside like he was nothing and then looked at Yajuu.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed.

Naruto looked at his fallen rival with shaking eyes. "S-sasuke?" he said nervously. Naruto turned to look at the clone slowly, feeling the blood thirsty shinobi watch him with intense eyes. Yajuu growled at the eyebrowless freak. "Don't touch us!" She warned. Yajuu watched in horror as Naruto turned to run, slamming his wounded hand onto the ground, and flinching in pain. He looked at his hand. Yajuu remembered.

"_I'm going to swear on the pain in my left hand! I'll protect you old man, with this kuni knife!" _

"_Are you hurt…scaredy cat."_

"_This mission continues!"_

'_Stupid boy. You're carelessness will get me killed."_

Yajuu sighed and looked back at Zabuza, Naruto doing the same. She followed Naruto's gaze to his hitai-te. She smiled at the boy and winked. "Come on." She encouraged as Naruto clenched his bandaged fist.

The two ran for the clone, giving out a battle cry.

"You bakas! STOP IT!" Kakashi screamed at them as they came closer and closer to the clone.

Sakura held her hair in her fists. "What are you morons thinking?"

"Humph! Baka." The clone simply smirked. He easily kicked Naruto aside. Yajuu on the other hand, blocked a kunai attack with her own kunai. Zabuza's water clone quickly grabbed hold of Yajuu's wrist as she moved to punch him. When she tried yanking her wrist away he grabbed her by her hair. "You remind me of someone. Maybe it's the mask." He smirked as he lifted the screaming girl up to his face. The clone quickly removed the mask, staring at her for a moment before drop kicking her back to her squad members. "I had a feeling." The clone said, dropped her mask, and slammed his foot on it, smashing it to pieces.

Yajuu growled and rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth, wiping the blood from it. She bit down on her hand quickly and hissed while her body stopped shaking, something she'd come into the habit of doing after she became a shinobi._ 'control it… control it.' _ She told herself as her mind started to hunger for blood. Long the taste of a kill.

Sakura yelled at Naruto and Yajuu, "What were you thinking! Charging off like that? Even Sasuke-kun is no match for him. No matter how hard we try, we Genin are no match for him."

Yajuu looked at Sakura and stood up quickly. She clenched her fist and rammed it into Sakura's nose. "Sasuke is not the center of the universe! SHUT UP!" She screamed at the pinkette. "I'm not a Genin! So don't bunch me up with you!" Naruto watched in horror at Yajuu's reaction towards Sakura. Before she would simply ignore the other kunoichi's taunts. This battle was getting to her. He could tell. Slowly the boy stood up, tightly holding his hitai-te.

Sakura watched Naruto confused. He hadn't gone up against the clone to beat him. He did it to get his band back. "Yajuu." He whispered. "Don't worry. Don't be afraid." He said. She looked at the boy and nodded. Sakura moved to get away from Yajuu, and protect Tazuna. Naruto trembling, stood up and pointed at the clone. "Ne! You, with no brows. Add this name to your bingo book. Uzumaki Naruto! The man who will one day become the Leaf Village's Hokage!"

Naruto put on his headband and looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke! Lend me your ear!" he smiled.

"What is it?"

Naruto looked the clone in the eyes as he said, "I have a plan."

"Humph! Are you talking of teamwork?"

Yajuu watched as the two rivals eyed each other. She'd never seen this before. Not in the time she had spent with them. The two boys were truly friends, but it was masked with their jealousy of each other.

Naruto wiped the blood from his lips and growled. "Now. Let's go wild!"

The clone laughed calmly at the two readying to battle. "Such loud snorting, but do you actually have a winning plan?"

Kakashi was furious as their stupidity. Yajuu ignored the man's screams to run. "Go get 'em Naru!" She cheered the boy on and looked at the two with a smile. Her blood had calmed down. She was back to normal and her urge to fight, to kill, was gone. "Go get that eyebrowless freak!" she gave herself chills reminding herself of his no eye-browed face.

"Listen our mission was to protect Tazuna! Have you forgotten that?" Kakashi yelled. Yajuu looked back at Tazuna.

"Sakura's got him. That couldn't be that hard of a task for her." Yajuu responded to Kakashi. Naruto turned back to Tazuna.

"Old man?" He asked the old guy. Yajuu waited to hear what Tazuna wanted to do.

"Nani… This is a seed that I planted and I can't say I want my life to be spared. Gomen you guys. Fight as much as you want!" Tazuna told the four with a smirked. Yajuu smiled.

"Yea! Go Naru! Go Sasuke!" she cheered on.

Sasuke smirked and Naruto warned the clone. "Are you ready?"

The clone smiled then started laughing. "You guys really haven't learned anything, have you? You're still playing at being Ninja? When I was your age, this hand was already stained red with blood!" Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stared at Zabuza with fear.

Yajuu looked at her hands. They were trembling again. _'Blood?'_

"Zabuza the Demon!" Kakashi said slowly. Yajuu looked up and stared at Zabuza. _'Demon?'_ she looked around herself, nervously.

"Oh? It seems that you've heard of me." Zabuza said, smirking.

"A long time ago, in the Mist Village, often called the town of Blood Mist, Ninja candidates faced their biggest hurdle." Kakashi started explaining.

Zabuza was smiling now. "So you also know about that graduation exam."

Naruto looked back at Yajuu, who was staring at her hands, body trembling uncontrollably. "That graduation exam?" Naruto asked softly. Zabuza laughed. "This graduation exam that you're talking about. What is it?"

Zabuza looked at Yajuu. "The students killed each other."

Naruto's eyes widened. "wh-what?"

"_Yajuu! Yajuu you okay? You seem really upset. Don't be okay? We get to graduate today."_

"_S-stop it! Ya-aack…ak…"_

"Classmates who had shared rice from the same pot formed pairs and tried to kill each other. It didn't end until one of them died. Partners who used to talk about each other's dreams and aspirations slaughtered each other."

"_Ya~aajuu! I got a new puppy today! You wanna come over?"_

"_Yes!"_

"Ten years ago, the Mist Village's graduation exam was forced to undergo drastic reform. That was because an evil demon had appeared on the scene the previous year." Kakashi explained calmly.

"Reform?" Sakura asked, eyes showing her horror. "What about the reform? What had the evil demon done?"

"With no scruples or hesitation a young boy who didn't even have the qualifications for being a Shinobi, annihilated over a hundred examinees." Kakashi said.

Zabuza looked at the Genin and groaned, "That sure was fun."

Sasuke and Naruto flinched. Sasuke looked over at Yajuu and wondered why she was so worked up again. She had just calmed down. But now she looked like she was about to puke. Was it about the story? Was she really that scared? While Sasuke wasn't paying attention the clone came and kneed him in the gut, knocking him into the air.

Sasuke coughed and gagged as his stomach tightened in pain. He gasped for air as the clone slammed his elbow into Sasuke's diaphragm. Blood shot out of his mouth as he became winded. Sakura looked at Sasuke and yelled out for her crush, "Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke laid on the ground, the clone slamming his foot down on Sasuke's belly. Zabuza's clone rubbed his foot deeper into Sasuke's belly, watching the boy cringe in pain. He grabbed his sword and readied to use it. "Die." He said softly.

"_Kage Bushin no Jutsu!_" Naruto said as dozens of clones of himself surrounded Zabuza's water clone.

"Aah the _Kage Bushin no Jutsu_, and there are quite a few of them." Zabuza said to himself, looking at all of the Naruto's surrounding him.

"Here I go!" Naruto said and held kunais. Sasuke slowly stood up as the Narutos jumped up and surrounded Zabuza's clone. The clone quickly swung his sword around and knocked them all off him.

Tazuna stood behind Yajuu and Sakura whining, "It's impossible, after all. There's no way that you can defeat the guy!"

Naruto dug in his backpack and threw a weapon at Sasuke, who grabbed it and spun around quickly.

Yajuu didn't know what was going on. Her eyes were wide, vision blurred as images flashed through her head. She could hear Sasuke, his voice pulling her back to think about Naruto and him. But, she couldn't focus long enough to understand what was going on. Looking around she saw a shuriken flying for the real Zabuza, and then being easily dodged. There was no way that they could win with Kakashi trapped. She watched as Naruto appeared behind Zabuza and then watched the man pull away from Kakashi and his water prison. She didn't understand what happened. She was to shaken to realize what was fully going on.

Kakashi stood on the water and held his hand out as Zabuza spun the demon wind shuriken to attack Naruto. His knuckle guard gloves stopped the shuriken from spinning, but at the cost of slicing the back of Kakashi's hand deeply.

"Naruto, your strategy was outstanding. You've grown. Both of you." He said referring to Sasuke as well.

Yajuu looked behind her, into the woods, she was sure she felt something. Heard someone. But she couldn't tell. Sakura watched the trembling Anbu with worry. Her cheek still stung, but she was worried as to why the girl was so freaked out. She was like that after Zabuza admitted to the graduate exam. She looked back at Naruto and Sasuke, thinking about how well they had worked together.

"Humph! I got distracted and broke my jutsu." Zabuza said, defending himself.

Kakashi looked at Zabuza with a glare. "That's a lie. He forced you to break it. I'll tell you now, the same Jutsu won't work on me twice. So what will you do?"

Zabuza's eye twitched before closing the shuriken and then allowing kakashi to toss it to the side. He jumped backwards and notice Kakashi doing the same.

"_Ushi, saru, u. Ne, inoshishi, tori, ushi. Uma, tori, ne, tora. Inu, tora, mi, ushi, hitsuji. Mi inoshishi, hitsuji ne. Jin, saru, tori tatsu. Tori, ushi, uma, hitsuji. Tora, mi, ne, saru. U, inoshishi, tatsu, hitsuji. Ne, ushi, saru, tori, Jin, ne, inoshishi. Tora, mi, ne, saru. U, inoshishi, tatsu, hitsuji. Ne, ushi, saru, tori. Jin, ne inoshishi. Tori!_" the two chanted at the same time. Two water dragons formed from the water. "Water style! Water Dragon Jutsu!"

As the two water dragons collided, water flooded the land around everyone. It was the wakeup call Yajuu needed. The cold water washed away her fear and she slowly stood up, now able to tell what she was sensing. She looked back into the trees and looked at a boy, standing on the branches. "Who's this?" She followed the boy's gaze to Zabuza and Kakashi. '_When did Kakashi get free?_' she thought. Yajuu jumped out for Naruto, pulling him onto the land from the rampaging water.

Yajuu helped him onto his feet and looked back at Zabuza who had multiple kuni knives shoved into his body. She froze as two senbon were shoved through Zabuza's throat, killing the shinobi instantly. She looked and saw the Anbu boy again. This kid was her age, and on the same level as her. She had a bad feeling about him, though she was still extremely curious.

Yajuu watched Kakashi check Zabuza's pulse and announce that the man was died. The Anbu bowed and thanked them.

"I've been waiting for the chance to kill Zabuza."

Kakashi stared at the boy and sighed. "By the looks of the mask, you're a Tracker Shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Kakashi said.

The boy stood up straight again. "Impressive, you're very knowledgeable. "

Naruto quickly guarded Tazuna. "Tracker Ninja?" He said, growling to sound tough.

Yajuu smiled. Naruto looked at the smile, actually looking at it for the first time. "Yes. Tracker Ninja. It's a type of Anbu black ops. Tracker ninja purse rogue ninja."

Sakura blushed from embarrassment. "Guys like Zabuza who turn against the village where they were born and raised. When they break away from the village, Tracker ninja go after these rogue Ninja and assassinate them in order to avoid having the secrets of the village being leaked. We learned this in the academy."

The boy confirmed that. "I'm a member of Hidden Mist Village's Tracking Unit. My mission was to hunt this rogue shinobi."

Naruto pointed at the boy and glared. "Hey! What are you?"

Kakashi stood behind the boy and sighed. "Don't worry Naruto. He's not an enemy."

"That's not what I'm asking! I! I mean! That Zabuza guy! He killed him like it was easy! That guy who was so strong. He was killed so easily by a kid who's no different from me! We're… we're pathetic. I can't accept that!" Naruto shouted. Yajuu looked at her feet. She was supposed to be this strong Anbu, but all she did was freeze up. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't control her emotions.

"I understand your disbelief. But… this too is reality." Kakashi rubbed Naruto's head and sighed. "In this world, there are kids who are younger than you, yet stronger than me." Naruto was pouting already. He looked away from Zabuza and Kakashi.

Yajuu watched as the boy picked up Zabuza's dead body. "Your battle is over for now. I must get rid of this corpse. It contains many secrets." He said as he put two fingers up to his mask. "Now, if you'll please excuse me." He said as he disappeared.

Naruto ran for the spot that Zabuza was just before. Kakashi sighed. "He's not here anymore."

Naruto punched the ground in anger, his body holding back tears, making him tremble. "What was all this for? What are we anyway?" Sakura and Sasuke were silent.

Yajuu crouched down next to the blonde. "Naru-kun. It's okay." Naruto stopped punching the ground as he looked over at Yajuu, finding her smiling, eyes closed.

Kakashi stood behind them. "Things like this happen when you're a ninja. If you're frustrated, apply it next time." He turned back to Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna. "Our mission isn't over yet. We still have to get Tazuna-san home."

Tazuna laughed and grabbed the edge of his hat. "Gomen, guys! You can rest at my house!" he promised.

Kakashi smiled. "Okay! Let's perk up you guys!" He said and started walking forward. He froze up and then continued to fall flat on his face. The team ran to Kakashi's sighed and yelled worriedly for him.

"Kashi-sensei!" Yajuu whimpered before Naruto yelled the silver haired man's name.


	5. Trees and Emotions

**Hello guys ^^ SO I don't know if I mentioned it before. I have an official beta reader now ^^ She goes to school with me too so thats even more fantastic. She expresses that she is nervous about the future because I've told her some of my plans and not all of them ^^ I'm so nice aren't I! Anyway, if I didn't remember to edit something then let me know, beat me up side the head, or ignore it. Depends on the kid of person you are I guess. If you're not following the art work I have done for Yaj on DA then go look at it! Or don't that's okay too... I'm a tad bit stressed out right now. So I'm doing a dump of all chapters up to 8. I haven't finished that one yet. So be ready! Thank you again for those who are reading. I sure hope this wasn't one of those stories that had a fantastic first 2 chapters then sucked the rest of the way... Feedback would be lovely as well if you can offer it. I may not post chapters up again for a few weeks. But when I do it'll be a dump again. College is stressing me out!**

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><p>Yajuu sat in the living room with the three Genin. She and Naruto were talking about what their favorite animal was. Sasuke was busy pretending not to be interested in Yajuu and Naruto's conversation while Sakura tried to flirt with him.<p>

"I wonder how Kaka is doing." Yajuu asked, twirling her thumbs. Naruto was watching Yajuu closely. Ever since they arrived at Tazuna's home the three had been watching her.

"_WOW! Yajuu I didn't know you had such cool eyes!" Naruto said as he looked at her face. Sasuke was watching her eyes as well, but refused to admit to it. Sakura was more of a glarer since Yajuu was getting unwanted attention about her face. Yajuu's left eye was green and right eye was a crimson red. "How did you get two colored eyes?" Naruto asked quickly. Yajuu shrugged._

"_Born with them? I don't know I've had them since I can remember." Yajuu said softly. Her cheeks were bright red. Naruto poked , pulled and pinched her red cheeks._

"_Ya-chan You're face is so soft and squishy!" Naruto cooed. Yajuu just blushed more. _

Yajuu stood up and ran her fingers through her bangs. "I'm gonna go check on Kaka-sensei." She said and walked out of the living room. Naruto flailed and he quickly got up and ran after Yajuu, telling her to slow down, even though she was walking. The other two followed silently.

When they got up stairs to Kakashi's room Naruto smiled. "Ne, sensei's awake, dattebayo!"

Sakura knelt down next to Kakashi and sighed. "Your Sharingan is fantastic, but if it puts that much strain on your body then it's not worth it."

Tazuna was wiping the sweat off his forehead and saying, "Well he did take down a really powerful ninja. So, we probably don't need to worry for a while."

Sakura put her hand to her mouth and looked at Kakashi worried. "That kid with the mask… What was he?"

"He was an Anbu black ops from the Hidden Mist village. It's a mask that the elite Shinobi Tracking Unit wears."

The others sat down next to Kakashi and listened. "They're commonly called the 'Fire Extinguishin Corps,' and their duty is to erase all traces that a Ninja ever lived. The body of the Ninja reveals a variety of things. Ninjutsu secrets and Chakra characteristics which permeate the Shinobi of their village, or the composition of secret medicines used on a Shinobi's body. For instance, if I were to die, every secret about my Sharingan would be investigated thoroughly, and in the worst case there's a danger thet my entire Jutsu could be stolen. In other words, Track Ninja are specialists that prevent village secrets from leaking out by killing Rogue Ninja who've run away from their village, and completely eliminating their bodies."

"So, does that mean Yajuu is on a mission looking for a Rogue Shinobi?" Sasuke glared at the girl, trying to figure out her secrets.

Yajuu smiled at him. "Nope! I've moved to Konaha, so now I am a Leaf Anbu black ops. But, I'm still not looking for any specific shinobi that has run away from home."

"That doesn't make any sense though. Why are you on our team, aren't Anbu supposed to be on Anbu teams, or solo teams? If you're on our squad, are you watching one of us?" Sasuke continued to pester.

Kakashi sighed. "Yajuu was from the Hidden Petals village, and she moved to Konaha. Her ranking doesn't change because she moved. She's on the team so she can learn how things work for us Leaf Shinobi. Quit pestering her." Sasuke pouted and looked away from the group.

Yajuu noticed Kakashi looking a bit uneasy and wondered if it was because of her. "Kaka-sensei, what's wrong?"

Kakashi looked up at Yajuu and gave a gentle smile. "Trackers take care of the bodies of the people they've killed, immediately and on the spot."

Yajuu tilted her head to the side. "Then what's the problem?"

"What did that kid with the mask do with Zabuza?" Kakashi asked the team.

Sakura answered with another question. "How should we know, the masked kid took Zabuza away!"

"That's right. If he needed proof he'd killed Zabuza, he could simply have taken the head. And another question is the weapon the boy used to killed him…"

Sasuke looked at the ground. "Regular senbon." He thought for a moment before Yajuu could see his expression become angered. "That's impossible."

Kakashi nodded. "Right…it's impossible."

Tazuna smiled and waved his arms. "What have you guys be clamoring on about?"

Yajuu clenched her fists. "Zabuza's alive." She said softly. Sakura, Naruto, and Tazuna all yelled in disbelief.

Naruto slammed his hands on the ground. "What do you mean, dattebayo?"

Sakura shook her head. "But you made sure he was dead?"

Kakashi looked at his hands, sitting in his lap. "You're right. I did make sure. But he was probably just in a state of near-death. The senbon the boy used has a very low ability to kill unless it hits a vital spots. It's something that was originally used for medical treatments like acupuncture. Trackers know all about the human body putting people into a state of near-death is probably simple for them."

Yajuu nodded. She wasn't a tracker, but she knew about the human body.

"First, he went through he trouble of taking Zabuza's body away, which was heavier than he is. Second, he used senbon, a weapon with a low chance to kill. Knowing these two things, that youth wasn't aiming to kill Zabuza, but to save him." Kakashi explained.

Tazuna wasn't buying it. "Aren't you readin to much into this?"

"No." Was all that Kakashi said.

Yajuu turned around to face Tazuna. "If your gut says somethings not right, you have to make preparations before it's too late. Assuming things is just part of preparing. That's a rule in the world of Shinobi." Yajuu could feel Naruto's excitement and smiled.

"What are we going to do to make preparations?" Sakura asked. "You can't even move."

Kakashi laughed. "I'll assign you training!"

"But even with training we wont be that much stronger! Even you had a hard time fighting Zabuza!" Sakura tried to defend herself. She didn't believe training would help at all.

Kakashi glared at the girl. "Sakura. Who was it that saved me during that battle? You've all grown, especially you Naruto. You've grown the most!"

Yajuu smiled. "So you noticed, Kakashi-sensei! Now it's getting interesting, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered for himself.

Yajuu hugged Naruto. "Good job Naru-kun! You're so strong now!"

"It's not interesting at all." Yajuu jumped at the small new voice. She turned around and looked at a small boy wearing green overalls and a creamy coloured shirt.

"Who the heck are you, dattebayo?" Naruto inquired, pointing at the boy. Yajuu crawled closed to him, making the boy quickly step back from her.

"Hey, Inari! Where have you been?" Tazuna asked, sitting down and opening his arms for a hug.

The boy, keeping his eyes on Yajuu, took a step to the left and then quickly ran the Tazuna. "Welcome home granpa!"

Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, put her hands on her hips and scolded the boy. "Inari, what kind of greeting is that? These are the Ninja who escorted your grandfather!

"It's okay, it's okay. Right, Inari?" Tazuna said, patting the boy's head. Inari glared at the four kids.

"Mom, these guys will die. There's no way they can oppose Gato and win." Inari said, looking at his mom.

"Say what, you like brat?" Naruto said, jumping up with his fist waving in the air. Yaju crawled towards the boy and glared at him.

"That isn't a nice thing to say." She scolded the boy, who ran for his grandfather again, hugging him tightly.

"Now you listen here! I'm a super hero who's gonna become an awesome ninja! I'm gonna be the future Hokage, dattebayo!" Naruto said, pointing at Inari.

Yajuu nodded and continued to glare at the boy. "I don't know if it's Gato, or Chocolat, or whatever! I'm not afraid of them at all!" she tried to reassure the boy.

"Dattebayo!" Naruto said, backing Yajuu up.

"Ha, a hero huh? That's stupid! There's no such thing!" Inari snapped back.

"What did you say?" Naruto and Yajuu yelled, both running for the boy. Sakura grabbed Naruto and Sasuke grabbed Yajuu. They squirmed, trying to get to the boy, Yajuu growling, and Naruto whining.

"Stop it!" Sakura said.

Inari quickly ran for the bedroom door and turned towards the group. "If you don't wanna die, then go home!" he then left. Tazuna sighed.

"Where are you going, Inari?"

"I'll be looking at the sea." he said softly and then ran from sight.

Tazuna looked at the group and apologized. Naruto and Yajuu were let go of. Naruto continued to look at the door in anger, while Yajuu pouted. Sasuke glared at the girl and sighed.

Naruto quickly left the room, Yajuu on his tail. "I'm gonna tell that brat a thing or too!" He warned, Yajuu grabbing his hand, trying to stop him.

"Naru-kun! Not now!" She whined. Yajuu was still imagining Sasuke's glare, mentalling telling her to leave the boy alone.

Naruto just kept storming towards Inari's room. Once they got to the boy's room, they were silent, listening to the soft weeping of the boy.

"Naru-kun.." Yajuu whispered. "Let's go." She said, holding the blonde's hand with hers.

-X-  
>Team 7 stood in a small clearing in the forest next to Tazuna's village. "Now, the training begins!"<p>

"Hai!"Naruto and Yajuu yelled at Kakashi.

"Before that, let me explain Chakra power for a Ninja, from the basics."

"Hai!" The two again yelled.

Sasuke sighed, annoyment on his face. "At this point?"

"Of course we know about that! Chatora, right?" Naruto smiled, pointing upwards.

Yajuu giggled. Kakashi looked at his feet and in a vicious tone said, "It's chakra!"

Naruto blushed and giggled embarrassedly. Yajuu looked at Kakashi, pointing to Sakura.

"I'll leave this to you Sakura." Kakashi sighed.

Sakura placed her hands on her hips. "Are you listening, baka? I'll explain it simply! Chakra is energy that a Ninja needs when he uses a Jutsu. It's made up of two energies. Physical energy gathered together from each and every cell in the body, and Spiritual energy accumulated based on numerous trainings and experiences! Jutsu wrings out and combines the two energies from the body, This is called, 'combing the chakra.' Chakra is then activated by forming hands signs."

Kakashi pat Sakura's head and complimented, "That's exactly right! Iruka really does have good students."

Naruto pouted. "Whatever! I may not understand difficult explanations, but I'll learn it with my body. Dattebayo!"

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Naruto is exactly right." Yajuu looked at Sasuke and smiled.

"Oh! Naru-kun must be right if Sasuke is agreeing with him!" Yajuu smiled. Naruto nodded.

"No! You still haven't used Chakra efficiently." Kakashi scolded the three.

"WHAT?" Naruto yelled. Sasuke bit his tongue.

"Listen. As Sakura explained, combining Chakra means picking up both the physical and spiritual energies and mixing them within the body. And the amount and preparation will depend on the Jutsu you are of you at this point aren't using Chakra efficiently. Except for Yajuu." Yajuu smiled at the praise. Naruto pouted along with Sasuke and Sakura. "Even if you are able to combine a lot of Chakra, if you can't control it in a balanced way then the effectiveness of the jutsu not only will be cut in half but it may not even activate at all. Wasting energy will prevent you from battling for long periods These are some of the weaknesses that can occur. "

Naruto looked confused. "Then what are we going to do?" Yajuu looked around.

"Kaka-sensei! Are you going to be teaching the tree climbing jutsu?" She asked. Yajuu had already had this training, as well as water walking jutsu.

"Correct. You need to learn to control the Chakra within your body. It's difficult training that requires you to put your life on the line to master!"

Yajuu sighed. That wasn't true at all. Yea you could die if you fell really high up, but seriously, these guys must know some control already.

"Tree-climbing?" they asked confused. None of them believed it was as dangerous as Kakashi was telling them.

"But it's not just simple tree climbing. You will climb without using your hands." Kakashi smiled and wiggled his fingers at the group. Yajuu sighed.

Sakura looked discouraged. "Well then how are we supposed to climb the tree…"

Kakashi continued to smile. "Well… Just watch Yajuu." He said and looked at the brunette. Yajuu whined and looked around. She moved to the closest tree and closed her eyes, gathering her chakra at her feet. Slowly she placed her foot on the tree's base and began walking up it as if she were walking on the ground. Kakashi smiled at shocked and awed response she got from the Genin.

"She's climbing…."Naruto said softly.

Sakura continued his sentence, 'perpendicular with the tree. And only using her feet."

Yajuu stopped as she hung upside down from a tree branch. "Like this?"

Kakashi smiled. "Yep! Focus the chakra on the bottoms of your feet and make them stick to the tree trunk. If you use chakra well, you can do things like this."

Sakura pointed at Kakashi. "Wait a minute! How does this kind of training make you stronger?"

Kakashi looked at the girl, annoyed. "This is the main point. The aim of this training is to accumulate the required amount of chakra to the required spot. This is difficult for even an expert Shinboi. The amount of Chakra used in tree climbing is subtle, and the bottoms of your feet are the most difficult spot to gather chakra." Yajuu released her chakra and dropped to the ground, easily landing on her feet. "In other words, if you master that control it will be possible to master any Jutsu. In theory that is. The second aim is to maintain that combined chakra. Shinobi combine the most chakra during battles. Under those circumstances, 'control' and 'maintenance' of chakra become most difficult. But nothing's going to happen if I just keep talking."

Yajuu walked up to Naruto and bumped his fist. "You get to learn with your bodies!" Kakashi threw three kuni at the genin and told them, "This is to mark your progress. First mark were you can climb up with your current strength. Next mark you make, make an effort to put a mark further from it. You wont be good enough to walk up from the start, so run and use your momentum to get used to it. You got it?"

"Hai! This trainging is nothing! Hah, it's too easy for me!" Naruto bragged. "After all, I've grown the most!" Yajuu giggled.

"Enough talking, just climb the tree." Kakashi said as he walked up to Yajuu. He placed a hand on her shoulder as she watched the three run for the trees. "Yajuu. Since you've learned this technique, come with me. I'm going to teach you something else." He said. Yajuu nodded and followed Kakashi.

-X—

Yajuu looked at the silent clearing that Kakashi had taken her too. The sun was peaking through the leaves. "So. Kaka-sensei. What training are you going to show me?" She asked, hoping that the man wouldn't make her do something involving her showing him her power.

"During the fight with Zabuza's clone. He said something. And you reacted to it." Kakashi said softly. Yajuu looked at her feet. "Something about a white flower."

"Alstoemeria. It's a very common flower, but white ones are rare. Flower breeders have made so many of them, they are no longer rare. They are still very uncommon in the wild. It's symbolism. A shinobi with power is rare through bloodlines. But Shinobi are being made by selfish Kages and leaders. But those born with power are shunned and looked at as monsters." Yajuu said, sitting down slowly. Kakashi watched her. "As you've probably guessed, just like you are the Copy Ninja, and Zabuza is the Demon of the Mist, in the Hidden Petals village, and the Kingdom of Flowers, I am known as the White Alstroemeria. I guess I caught someone's eyes and was stuck in the Anbu Bingo Book. I didn't know I was in it though."

Kakashi nodded. "How could Zabuza tell it was you through the mask?"

_The clone quickly removed the mask, staring at her for a moment before drop kicking her back to he squad members. "I had a feeling." The clone said, dropped her mask, and slammed his foot on it, smashing it to pieces._

Yajuu shrugged. She wasn't sure. Maybe it was the symbol on her mask. She had no idea if she was the only one in the book from her village or not. But, that was probably a reason. Kakashi sighed. "Well. You're training will be controlling your emotions in a battle." Yajuu looked up at her sensei confused. "You bite your hand to calm yourself." Yajuu nodded, lying. "But it seems like that just riles your blood up more. And when Zabuza mentioned his graduation exam you froze up completely." Yajuu bit her tongue.

"What do you mean?" Yajuu asked.

"When you bit your hand after Zabuza smashed your mask, you had calmed yourself just enough to stand up and punch Sakura in the face. You may calm your fear, but when you do that your anger rises." Yajuu looked away from Kakashi.

"So then, how are you going to help me control my emotions? It sounds like I can already control them." She asked. Yajuu wasn't sure how this was going. The brunette's eyes watched Kakashi closely, taking in every little movement, and he could see that. So, when Kakashi dropped his crutches and disappeared, she was expecting it.

Kakashi showed up behind Yajuu with a kunai to her throat. Yajuu wasn't fazed and quickly went limp, falling against Kakashi. Kakashi pushed her away from him and she quickly caught herself, slapping her hands against the ground and pushing herself into the air, doing a handspring. She turned to face Kakashi and ran at him. The two clashed kunai, blocking. Kakashi grabbed Yajuu's wrist as she slammed her kuni against his once again. Yajuu was quickly pushed into the ground with Kakashi holding her arm behind her back and her face into the ground. Yajuu smirked and quickly forced her body to slide backwards beneath Kakashi, her arm dislocating, and came out from under him, her arm twisted backwards slightly as she yanked her wrist out of his grasp trough his legs. Kakashi turned quickly and punched Yajuu in the face as she pushed her arm back into place. Yajuu hit the ground with her hands and pushed herself up again, spinning around to kick Kakashi in the kidney. The man hissed in pain as she used that to close the distance between them and continue to punch Kakashi in the kidney again. The silver haired man jumped away from her and sighed. The two were watching each other closely as Kakashi slowly started pulling his hitai-te up, revealing his Sharingan eye.

Yajuu sighed. If Kakashi was going to use his eye, what was the point of her fighting him? She bit her hand slowly, Kakashi watched her closely. He was right. When she bit her hand she did calm down. But, she also knew her anger would rise.

"What's your next move?" Kakashi asked with a smirk.

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><p><strong>Okay readers. I am still very unsure about this last section of the chapter with Kakashi and Yajuu. I'm really not liking it very much, my BETA loves it. Can you guys let me know what you think of it?<strong>


	6. Still Just a Child

Tazunna smiled. "This is so fun! It's been a long time since we've had a meal with so many people." he cried out as he watched Naruto and Sasuke stuff their faces with food. Yajuu was eating as much as the boys as well. Naruto and Sasuke stood up quickly, holding their bowls into the air.

"Seconds please!" The two boys yelled out. Yajuu just kept eating, not even bothering to ask for more. Naruto and Sasuke groaned and threw up behind their seats. Yajuu turned and watched, the sight and smell of the bile made her want to puke.

"Oh…crap…." She groaned and turned, puking as well.

Sakura slammed her hands on the table. "Stop eating if you're just going to vomit!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto and wiped his lips. "No, I will eat more."

Naruto glared at Sasuke and wiped his eyes. "I have to eat even it means enduring. I have to get strong as quickly as possible."

Yajuu growled and punched the top of Sasuke's head. Then she walked to the other side of the table and punched Naruto's head. "I could've eaten more and you two puking made me waste all of the perfectly good food!' She yelled. Kakashi nodded.

"Vomiting is different from becoming strong anyway." Kakashi said watching the group.

-X—

Sakura was standing on a stool in the corner of the dining room, looking up at a picture hanging on the wall. "Excuse me, but why is there a torn picture hanging here?" Yajuu looked at Sakura and wiggle her nose.

"I was wondering too. Inari, you were looking at it through dinner." Yajuu asked the small boy, leaning in to his face. Inari backed away from rg enthusiastic girl.

Sakura turned to face the group. "It looks like this part was deliberately torn off." She said innocently.

Everyone was quiet until Inari's mother answered, "That is my husband."

"He's a man who was once the hero of this town." Yajuu remembered Inari's reaction to Naruto talking about heroes.

"_Now you listen here! I'm a super hero who's gonna become an awesome ninja! I'm gonna be the future Hokage, dattebayo!" _

"_Ha, a hero huh? That's stupid! There's no such thing!" _

Inari pushed his chair out as he stood up and then left the room silently. Yajuu watched him, curious at the boy's pain. "Inari, where are you going?" The boy didn't respond as he left the room. His mother followed him with an irritated look on her face. "Dad! I'm always telling you not to talk about him in front of Inari!"

Yajuu was now even more confused. The old man was just answering a question. And technically, Inari's mother was the first to mention the man. Tazuna just looked off into the distance.

Sakura sat down with the group at the table once again. "What happened with Inari?"

Kakashi nodded. "It appears there's a good reason."

"Inari had a father not related by blood. They were like a real father and son, they got along so well. Back then, Inari was one who always laughed. But…" He clenched his fists, no longer able to fight back his tears. "Inari has changed ever since the incident with his father."

Yajuu looked at Tazuna's tears sitting on the table, spacing off slowly.

"The word bravery was taken from the people on this island, and from Inari. With that day, that incident, as the trigger."

Kakashi looked at Tazuna, holding his tea cup gently. "What happened to Inari?"

Tazuna sighed. "Before I tell you what happened, I should give you a brief description about the man who was once the hero of this land. It was three years ago when Inari meet the man. He had saved the boy from drowning after being pushed into the water by some bullies. His name was Kaiza and he was a fisherman who'd come to this land from another country in search of his dreams. After that, Inari really took to Kaiza. It may have been because Inari had lost his real father when he was too young to remember anything. But he was very attached to Kaiza. They were like father and son. It didn't take long for Kaiza to become a part of our family. And he was a man this town needed. There was a moment when we had a bad flood that almost took out a section of our village. Kaiza was brave and put his life on the line to save our village. He went out into the floods and tied up our damn, allowing us to pull it close. From then on the people of this land called Kaiza an hero, and he became a father Inari could be proud of." Yajuu looked at Tazuna.

"So what happened then? If this guy was so awesome, why is he torn out of the picture. And, why does Inari hate talking about him. What did Kaiza do?" She asked Tazuna, gaining a gentle smile from the old man.

"It was around that time when Gato set his sights on this land. And one night Kaiza was kidnapped. Gato's thugs beat him senseless and broke his arms. The next morning Kaiza was found hanging on a cross, half dead and arms removed. Gato and his mean had him out on display until they decided to kill him. In front of Inari."

Yajuu looked at Tazuna in horror, along with Naruto and Sakura doing the same. Sasuke showed no emotions.

"From then on Inari was different. He stopped believing in heroes just like Tsunami and the townspeople."

Naruto looked at the picture with serious eyes. He stood up quickly and turned to run away, tripping himself in an embarrassing manor.

"Naru-kun, what are you doing on the floor?" Yajuu asked.

Kakashi looked at the boy and sighed. "You've had enough training for today. You've built up to much Chakra. You'll end up killing yourself if you continue on."

Yajuu watched as Naruto looked straight at her, his whole body trembling. "I'll prove it."

"Nani?" Sakura asked quietly.

Naruto slowly got his body to stand, still trembling. "I'll prove that there are heroes in this world!"

-X- -

A loud crash sounded through the castle, a horrific sound that made the king and queen bit their tongues. The queen quickly wrapped her child into a blanket and gave it to her husband. The man ran for the messenger waiting downstairs and shoved the wailing child into his arms. "Take her away from here!"

The messanger nodded and quickly hid this child in his bag, then proceeded to hold the bag up to his chest tightly. He ran to the front room of the large palace and stood frozen, holding the bag in trembling arms. Townspeople were raiding the place along with the general and his army.

"Kill them all!" The general cried out and the people yelled a cheer.

-X- -

Yajuu was tightly squeezing her friend's neck, watching her eyes roll back into her head slowly as she struggled and wiggled beneath her. She growled through her fangs and drooled slightly, beating silver eyes watching in anticipation. She quickly yanked the girl's head to the side, hearing a sickening pop as her body quit moving. Yajuu looked at the other students around, watching her in horror. All that came out of her lips were growls, growls for more. Growls for blood.

-X- -

Yajuu's eyes snapped open as she quickly grabbed a kuni to fight whoever was pulling her from her slumber. The long hair boy smiled and sat up straight. "Nightmares?" He asked her softly while he shook Naruto awake. The two of them were curled up together on the forest floor, for warmth through the cold night. "You know you shouldn't sleep out here like this, you could catch a cold."

Yajuu sat up and rubbed her eyes slowly, keeping one eye open as she watched the boy eye the sleepy, sitting, eye rubbing Naruto. "Who are you?" he asked, his sleepiness showing through his cracking voice.

The boy just smiled and tilted his head to the side.

Naruto blushed and Yajuu pouted silently. "Uh…did you wake me up sis? I mean, what're you doing here?"

Yajuu glared at the boy. Naruto thought he was a SHE!

"I'm gathering medicinal herbs." He said with a smile.

"Herbs?" Yajuu growled between her teeth. The boy nodded and looked at Yajuu.

"For healing injuries and sickness. Stuff like that. Would you mind helping? Since you're awake?" He asked, standing up slowly. Naruto jumped up and smiled.

"Naruto Uzumaki at your survice!" Yajuu stood up and nodded at the boy. She wasn't going to leave Naruto, not after all the training they did last night. Naruto was still pooped, and probably didn't have the strength to help himself if this boy turned out to be an enemy.

The three walked to the boy's basket and knelt down in the grass as he showed the other two what her was looking for.

"You've got a lot to do early in the morning sis." Naruto said as he sat down and collected the herbs that stood around him.

"You too." The boy said in response. "What've you been doing in a place like this so early in the morning?"

Yajuu butted in and pointed at herself. "Training!"

The boy looked at the two of them with a blush. "Could it be that you two are ninja? With that hitai-te?"

"Is that what it looks like? Is it?" Naruto asked excitedly. "Yup! I'm a ninja!"

The boy smiled bigger. "No kidding! You must be great, aren't you."

Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head. Yajuu wanted to throw up. She wondered if she should tell Naruto that this girl was really a boy, and to quit flirting with him cause it was creepy.

"Why are you training?" The boy asked, looking at his hands.

"I want to get stronger!" Naruto asked.

Yajuu looked at her hands as well before pointing at the boy. "Me too!"

"But you look strong enough already."

"Ah, dame dame! I want to be even stronger!" Naruto said nodding his head quickly.

"What for?"

"To become the best ninja in my village! I'm going to get everyone to notice my strength! And I have to prove something to a certain person!"

"I'm doing it to protect those I love from danger." Yajuu said with a smile.

"Is that for the sake of the somebody? Or for the sake of yourself?" The boy asked, leaning forward as he watched Yajuu and Naruto closely. That's when Yajuu noticed it. This boy was the one with the mask. Yajuu bit her tongue, watching him closely, waiting for him to strike at Naruto or her.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

The boy giggled and smiled. "Do you have someone precious in your life?"

"Precious? What is it you're trying to say sis?"

Yajuu looked out into the trees, thinking about it.

"When a person has something precious they want to protect that's when they can truly become strong."

Naruto smiled and said, "Yeah! I know that too!"

Yajuu smiled as well. Team 7 was precious to her. She wanted to protect all of them.

The boy stood up and smiled, grabbing his full basket. "You both will become very strong." Yajuu and Naruto nodded. "I hope we meet again somewhere."

Yajuu stood getting ready to follow the boy before he got away, but the boy stopped walking for a moment. Yajuu tensed up, ready for an attack. "Oh…by the way… I'm a boy!" The boy said and then continued walking along. Yajuu turned towards Naruto, giggling at the shocked look on his face.

"Wow… this is strange..and awkward… The world is full of mystery." Yajuu giggled and watched Sasuke walk up to the two of them. He punched Naruto and folded his arms.

"Ow! Hey! What was that for, dattebayo!"

"Did you just forget about breakfast, baka?" Sasuke scolded Naruto. Naruto simply smirked.

Yajuu covered her mouth and blushed. "I forgot! Gaah!" She whined softly, watching Sasuke glare at her. "I'll be back later! Bye Naru-kun! Bye Sasuke!" She said as she quickly ran away from them.

She ran until out of sight of the two and insight of the boy.

"Hey… You were helping Zabuza?" She said softly. Not a word was said from the boy. Yajuu grabbed the arm of his pink Kimono and pulled him to her. "Answer me!" She said.

The boy stopped and looked at Yajuu. "My name is Haku. And you?" Yajuu was take back from the simple question. She was expecting something bad to happen.

"Well?" Haku asked.

"I'm Yajuu. The man youre helping knows me as the White Alstroemeria." Haku nodded..

"You are not protecting Tazuna at the moment, so there is no need for us to fight one another." Haku said, trying to reassure Yajuu. She dropped her guard slightly.

"You are not like the rest of them. You have pain in your eyes." Haku said softly. Yajuu looked at her feet as they walked.

"Yea. I know firsthand the pain of killing those you love, and being pushed away from those you thought loved you." Yajuu said softly back.

-X- -

Yajuu was asleep in sasuke's room, wearing one of Sakura's misfitting shirts and a pair of Naruto's shorts. She would've grabbed some of Sasuke's clothes like she normally did, considering she was closer to his height than the others, and he wore baggy enough shirts that she was able to get them on her body. This is compared to flat chested girl shirts. But, she couldn't figure out where the Uchiha boy had decided to hide his clothes today and was too tired to look. After her walk with Haku Yajuu had gone back to Tazuna's to eat breakfast and sleep.

Sasuke and Naruto had just gotten home with the rest of the team. Sasuke was ready to change out of his dirty, sweaty clothes and shower. When he stepped into his room to find his once clean room turned into a mess he growled. Yajuu had her clothes in a pile in the middle of the room and her shoes and weapons thrown around. Now she also slept like Naruto so she was sprawled out on his bed matt, halfway covered by the blankets and halfway on the floor. She didn't even bother to use the pillow he had. Instead she snuggled up to it. Sasuke rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Sasuke closed the door to his room and listened as Naruto ran through the hallway to his room and then to the bathroom to claim his shower before Sasuke. Sasuke had officially lost the race between Naruto and him and was now glaring at the sleeping Yajuu for it.

Yajuu was tensed and whimpering softly in her sleep, causing Sasuke to become curious of her dreams. He looked at the clock and sighed. He had some time to get in a nap before dinner. So the raven haired boy pulled out a second bed mat from inside the closet, laying it down next to his original bed. Sasuke then proceeded to steal his pillow from Yajuu's tight snuggle, and lay down on his back next to her. He wasn't cold enough to steal the blanket from the brunette girl yet. He listened to her breathing calm down and her body relax. That is when he reached for the large blanket she was using and took some of it from her. Yajuu still had some of it covering her body, but because she was sprawled out randomly in the first place she was barely covered by the large blanket.

Sasuke was ready to fall asleep when he felt the girl place her hands on his dirty navy shirt, tightly clenching it in her fists as she pulled him into a forced cuddle. He groaned. She was such a pain. Acting like a naive moron and being so reckless, much like Naruto. Sasuke knew first hand that she was also a serious shinobi, willing to be shoved into the dirt and be considered garbage if it was to protect her friends. Especially Naruto. Punching Sakura for putting him higher than Naruto, and then shoving him into the ground when calling the blonde a scaredy cat. She was serious about her friendships. He respected her for that.

But to see her so fragile like this, clinging to him like a child holding onto their mother, made her past attempts to seem strong and fearless completely worthless. She was only a child. Just like Naruto. Just like him.

Sasuke let a smile crack and he hugged her back, holding the girl. He was glad she was asleep so no one would know of his soft spot for Yajuu. Sasuke wondered why someone would name a child like this Beast. It didn't fit.

-X—

Sasuke helped Naruto into Tazuna's home. "We climbed to the very top dattebayo!" Naruto said winded, dirt and scratches covering his body." Kakashi nodded.

"Good!" The silver haired man said to the boys. "Naruto, Sasuke, you'll also start guarding Tazuna!" Naruto smiled and threw his fist into the air.

"Got it! Yajuu did you hear that? I get to…." Naruto looked at the group. "Where's Yajuu?"

Sakura shrugged. She could care less at this point in time. The girl was being allowed to sleep in Sasuke's room! Sasuke's wasn't complaining either! Sasuke looked at Naruto worried.

"She's still sleeping upstairs. We were going to wake her for dinner, but you showed up just before we could." Kakashi said. "So, Naruto, would you like to get your friend?"

The worn out blonde jumped up happily and nodded. "Sure would!" He said and started upstairs as if he was never tired. Sasuke sat down at the table and looked at his empty plate.

Naruto walked into Sasuke's room silently, hoping not to wake up the sleeping Yajuu. This was weird. She had been in Sasuke's room since the day before when she had left after the girly looking boy left. She seemed to have been sleeping a whole lot, and during meals Kakashi went up to give her, her meal. When Naruto would go to bed Sasuke would be taking down Yajuu's empty plates.

Naruto stepped into the room to fide the supposed to be sleeping Yajuu standing up with one of Naruto's larger orange T-shirts in her hands, Naruto's orange kapris in her other hand. Her body was covered by just her black sleeveless sports bra and some black panties. She looked back at Naruto, a blush covering her cheeks as she watched Naruto's eyes look over her hardly covered pale skin.

"Naru-kun…." Yajuu said softly before clenching her fist and slamming it into the blondes face. She let out a scream and slammed the door closed once again.

Sasuke looked up at the ceiling. He quiet chewing his rice and looked back at the stairs leading to the second floor. He was curious as to what just happened. The blonde probably just spooked her. He quickly learned that when waking Yajuu you should do it calmly and gently like a loving mother. If you didn't she'd attack you as soon as her eyes opened. "Baka." He muttered with a smirked. The group went back to eating until Naruto ran down stairs yelling, "I didn't mean to! Gomen! Gomen!" Sasuke watched the blood run downstairs with his hands over his eyes.

Yajuu was following the blonde close behind. Her cheeks were bright red, and she had her hands tightly clamped into fists. "Naru-kun! Knock next time!" She yelled at the blonde and slammed her fist onto Naruto's head. As soon as she said that Sasuke knew what happened and rice proceeded to shoot out of his nose.

Kakashi blushed, Tazuna blushed, Inari looked confused, and Sakura was glaring at Sasuke.

-X—

"The bridge is almost complete!" Tazuna said happily rubbing his belly while Tsunami and Yajuu cleared the table. "And it's all thanks to you guys."

"Even so, don't let your guard down." Tsunami warned, handing more plates to Yajuu as she started to fill the sink with bubbles.

Tazuna looked at the group with serious eyes. "I've wanted to ask you guys for a long time now. Why are you still here even after I lied about the mission?"

"To see what is right without doing it shows courage. Like master, like man. It's a teaching of the Fourth Hokage." Kakashi said with a smile behind his mask. Yajuu looked at the group. Inari was crying again.

"Why?" The little boy almost silently whispered.

Naruto sat up and looked at Inari. "Huh?" Yajuu could feel the sadness and anger inside Inari, building up, making her want to cry for him. She didn't understand why she was feeling Inari's emotions. She jumped as Inari slammed his hands on the table.

"Why do you desperately work so hard until you get so tired and worn out? There's no way you'd be a match for Gato's men even if you do train!" Yajuu looked at the group's faces, their emotions slamming into her head like a wave. "No matter what cool things you say or how much effort you make the weak will always fail against the strong!"

Yajuu could feel Sasuke's hate suddenly building up inside him. Naruto was more annoyed than anything right now. "Shut up… I'm not like you, dattebayo." Naruto sighed boredly.

"Shut up! Just looking at you makes me sick!" Inari yelled back at Naruto. "You just stick your nose in even though you know nothing about us. I'm not like you who's always acting happy when you know nothing of pain!" Yajuu bit her tongue as she quickly crunched the glass cup in her hand easily. She looked at Inari with hate, fire in her eyes.

Tsunami took a step back as Yajuu pulled her soapy bleeding hand out of the dish water. Naruto's sudden anger made her suddenly hate this boy.

"Are you just whine and cry like the leading role in a tragedy? You make me sick to my stomach you sniveling brat!" Yajuu snapped loudly at Inari. Her blood was dripping onto the floor, making the only noise in the dining room.

"An idiot like you can just cry for ever. You crybaby!" Naruto snapped back, but his face still hiding in her arms. Inari looked at the two of them who had just snapped at him. He looked like he was going to cry even more.

"Yajuu! Naruto! That was a bit harsh don't cha think?" Sakura tried defending the boy. Yajuu looked at her bloody hand and was taken aback by what she just said. She was harsh, letting Naruto's emotions cloud her judgment. Naruto got up and walked away.

Yajuu turned and started cleaning the broken glass out of the dishwater. She was silent, and ignored the rest of the group.

-X—

Sasuke looked up from her book as Yajuu entered in the room. She looked at her feet as she walked to her bed. "That was some lecture you gave earlier." He said sarcastically. Yajuu ignored Sasuke. Sasuke knelt down on the ground next to her. She had buried herself under the blankets. He lifted the blanket just enough to look under it and grab her hand. "Let me see your hand." He said annoyed. Yajuu blushed and continued to hide her face.

Sasuke looked at the brunette's hand with wide eyes. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her healed hand. It was as if she had never even hurt herself.

"Get some sleep. You have a job to help with tomorrow. No more sulking." He scolded her and turned off the bedroom light, laying on his matt next to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay thanks for sticking through this one ^^ It's a bit more emotional in this chapter. I'm excited to post the next chapter because I had a whole lot of fun writing it<strong>


	7. Awakening

**This was my favorite chapter to write. So if you hate it thats fine, I still love it! So there! But chapter 8 is a tad bit more awesome... I think. I have written all the way up to the chuunin exams! But it's in my notebook not on my laptop. So you don't get to see it! This is the last chapter in my dump.**

* * *

><p>"Yajuu! Get up! They left without us!" Naruto screamed at the brunette girl. Yajuu sat up quickly and looked at Naruto with wide eyes, looking around herself to make sure no one was attacking. Naruto threw her shinobi clothes at her and kicked her legs. "Let's go! Let's go! I'm gonna leave you behind if you don't hurry!" He warned, even though he himself was still in his pj's.<p>

Yajuu jumped up and pushed Naruto out of the room so she could get ready. "I can't believe they would leave us behind?" Yajuu complained.

The two ran downstairs, ready for the day, and yelled out to Tsunami, "We'll be back!" in unison.

-X—

"They could've woke us up!" Yajuu yelled over at Naruto as they ran through the trees. Naruto nodded.

"Dattebayo!" He whined. The two continued to jump through the trees till Naruto stopped and spotted a boar, cut to ribbons. They stopped and jumped down to the ground.

"Someone stopped to have some fun." Yajuu grumbled. She looked around. "And hurt the poor trees as well." Naruto looked at the ground.

"Someone is heading for the village." He said looking back in the direction they just came from. "I'm gonna go check it out! You go to the bridge!" He said and jumped back into the trees, waving good-bye to Yajuu before running off. Yajuu looked in the direction of the bridge and bit her lip. She had a bad feeling about this.

-X—

'Sasuke! Sakura! They're coming!" Kakashi said, defending Tazuna. The two Genin stood in defense of the old bridge builder as the fog started to build.

"Sensei? This is the_ Kirigakure no Jutsu_, right?" Sakura asked as she looked around.

Sasuke stood still. His heart was pounding in his chest.

"It's nice to see you again Kakashi. I see you've got those brats with you as always. He's still trembling. Poor thing." A deep, hoarse voice said through the mist. Zabuza.

Sasuke was indeed trembling. But when the water clones showed themselves Sasuke smirked. "I'm trembling with excitement."

"Go ahead, Sasuke." Kakashi said with a smile. Sasuke quickly ran through the water clones surrounding them and cut into each of them. Then he stood in the same spot he was originally in, a serious smile on his face. Sakura watched in awe as her crush worked.

"So.. he could see the water clones, eh. The brat's grown. This means a rival has emerged, Haku." Zabuza said showing himself to the group, the mask boy that had killed him before walking next to him.

"So it seems." Haku said softly.

-X—

Yajuu continued to run through the trees until she started to notice the fog growing around her. She stopped as she came to the edge of the forest and hid on a tree branch, looking out at her team. Zabuza was there. Along with Haku. "Crap.." She muttered and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

-X—

"It seems like my prediction was right on the spot." Kakashi bragged.

"Prediction?" Zabuza hissed softly.

"The mask." Kakashi said. Sakura's eye twitched as they widened, remembering the conversation.

"I knew it looked familiar." Sasuke bragged, a smirk on his face.

"You mean that two faced liar, is him?" Tazuna asked. "Gees, I'm getting old. I can't even remember what the enemy looks like!"

"How dare her show up like this after what he did!" Sakura yelled and pointed at Haku.

"I hate brats who think they're so cool." Sasuke huffed, crossing his arms. Yajuu appeared next to Sasuke with a smile.

"That's how I feel about you Sasuke-kun!" She teased and pinched the Uchiha's cheek. Sasuke pushed Yajuu away and glared at her.

"Shut up!"

"Nooooo!"

"Seriously! You're acting like Naruto!"

"Well I hate brats who think they're soooo cooool." Yajuu copied Sasuke's line. Sasuke glared at her harder before looking back at Haku. She kind of ruined the serious tone they had going for them at the moment. Haku and Zabuza didn't seem fazed, but Kakashi seemed embarrassed to know the two and Sakura seemed pissed.

"Don't make fun of Sasuke-kun like that! He is cool!" Sakura defended the raven haired boy. Yajuu just smiled and looked at Zabuza, ignoring Haku's presence completely.

Yajuu and Sasuke got on guard as Haku started towards them, leaves surrounding his body as he appeared in front of Sasuke. Haku ignored Yajuu completely and trembled as he and Sasuke slammed their weapons together.

"Sakura, surround Tazuna and don't move away from me." Kakashi warned. Sakura nodded and quickly took her place. Kakashi watched as Yajuu and Haku ignored each other like they didn't exist.

Sasuke and Haku spun around, blocking each other's attacks easily. Yajuu watched Zabuza with a burning intent to fight, but desperately tried to ignore the two friends that were going at it.

"I don't want to have to kill you." Haku warned Sasuke. "I'd like for you to back down."

"That's nonsense." Sasuke growled.

"You won't be able to keep up with my speed. Not a chance." Haku smirked. "And, I've already made two preemptive moves."

Yajuu looked at Sasuke and Haku.

"The first is the scattered water. The second is blocking one of your hands. Therefore, you'll just be able to defend my attack."

Yajuu's eyes widened as Haku started making hand signs with one hand. She quickly ran for Sasuke and Haku, gathering her chakra in the pool of her stomach.

"A Thousand Needles of Death." Haku said softly, as he slammed his foot onto the ground, the water flying up into the air as it formed sharp, icy senbon. Yajuu quickly wrapped her arms around Sasuke as she shot her chakra out around her, the needles moving off course. Sasuke looked at the brunette with wide angry eyes.

"Get out of the way, Yajuu!" He grumbled.

Yajuu shook her head and quickly rammed her shoulder into Haku's gut, pushing him away from Sasuke. Sasuke took the opportunity to jump into the air and throw shuriken at Haku. The feminine boy easily dodged them.

"You're surprisingly stupid." Sasuke said as he appeared behind Haku. "From here on out you'll be the one defending!" The two ran at each other and Sasuke quickly spun around and threw a kuni at Haku. Haku ducked down, dodging the kuni but not dodging Yajuu's sudden kick to the head, throwing his head backwards as well as his body. Haku landed at Zabuza's feet.

"It seems that I have the advantage in speed, even if it's with team work." Sasuke smirked. Yajuu squatted down on the ground and sighed.

"I can't have you mocking my team, calling them brats. Sasuke is the number one rookie of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Sakura is our sharpest and brightest mind. Yajuu is our peace maker. And Naruto. Naruto is our number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja."

Yajuu smiled and stuck out her tongue and pulled down the skin bellow her eye. "That's right!"

Zabuza laughed. "Haku. At this rate, you'll be defeated by your intended victims."

Haku stood up. "Yes."

Yajuu clenched her fist. "His chakra." She muttered.

"It's unfortunate. I didn't want to have to use this on you my friend. But it seems I must be rid of you so I can continue with my mission." Haku said as he gathered his chakra.

"The air is chilling." Sasuke said and looked at Yajuu.

Yajuu glared at Haku with her discolored eyes. She wouldn't be able to kill her secret friend. Not now, probably not ever. Yajuu stood up as she heard cracklings behind her. She turned and watched as all around her what looked like mirrors surrounded her and Sasuke.

"Hidden Jutsu." Haku said softly.

Yajuu grabbed the Kuni from Sasuke's hand and ran at the mirror, slamming the blade into the crystal. It didn't even scratch it. "Crap." Yajuu looked back at Sasuke as she felt his fear build up inside her, making her scared as well. Yajuu then looked back as Haku's image formed in the mirror in front of her.

"Are these…mirrors?" Sasuke asked as the boy's image was reflected all around the two of them. Yajuu closed her eyes as Sasuke's fear started to grow stronger.

Yajuu looked at the boy in the ice with pained eyes. Haku's mask hid his face but Yajuu remembered this boy's features.

"Haku."

"Yajuu."

"I'm sorry we have to fight like this."

"I'm sorry I'll have to kill you before we can fight."

Yajuu held up a kuni and looked at Haku with sad eyes. Yajuu was ready to run for Haku when she felt her body fall into the ground below her. Her body felt like it was being surrounded by ice cold water. Yajuu looked around herself before she started gasping for air. Her lungs quickly felt like they were being filled with water. Yajuu felt herself lose consciousness.

Yajuu was only out for a moment before she opened her eyes to darkness. All around her she heard Sasuke's screams of agony. She couldn't move. She couldn't save Sasuke from his pain. As soon as Yajuu tried to move her body felt like it was being rammed into with thousands of little needles. She screamed out in agonizing pain.

Sasuke watched Yajuu go from running towards Haku for an attack to standing still, hunched over body, and arms hanging limply down. She dropped her kuni slowly. "Yajuu…. Yajuu?" Sasuke called out for the girl. Yajuu's eyes were cloudy, as if her mind was in another world.

Sasuke reached forward to touch Yajuu's shoulder and flinched as she grabbed her hair in her fists and screamed in horror. She fell limply into Sasuke's arms. The Uchiha looked at the girl worriedly and then laid her down on the ground at the edge of the mirrors.

"I've gotten rid of the strength of the team. Now, to get rid of the cocky 'cool' one."

Yajuu felt blood seep from every hole, every pore in her body as she tried to move and screamed. Yajuu's voice stopped as a cold hand touched her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I'll help you sleep." The voice said. Haku.

Yajuu cried tears of blood. "I don't want to die yet." She whimpered. Haku removed his hand from her shoulder.

"Shhh. Don't worry." Haku said as Yajuu felt herself choke on her tongue as something was shoved through her throat, making her black out once again.

-X—

Yajuu trembled as she opened her eyes. She looked at Sasuke, standing above Naruto. She flinched in fear as she tried to move. She moved easily and without any problems. Yajuu touched the side of her neck and found nothing there. She looked at her hands and body. Nothing was wrong with her. Not a scratch or speck of dust.

She looked up as Naruto jumped up and yelled at Sasuke. "Why? Why did you help me? I didn't ask for you to save me!"

"Baka. I don't know why I did it. My body just moved." Sasuke 's body trembled. Yajuu stood up quickly and ran for her comrades as Sasuke fell backwards into Naruto's arms. Yajuu looked at the senbon that buried themselves into Sasuke's body. She started to yank them out, Sasuke wincing in pain each time was pulled out.

"I… I have to kill him." Sasuke's groaned, his hand clutching Yajuu's trembling one tightly. "My older brother… I absolutely refuse to die. I thought my oath… w-would keep m-me ali-ive." Yajuu bit her lip, tears spilling from her eyes. "You, don't die." Sasuke said softly, closing his eyes. "Yaj….Kill him.. my brother…for me." He said, his voice becoming softer with each word. Sasuke's hand went limp in Yajuu's.

Naruto laid Sasuke's body on the cold ground gently. Yajuu kissed the knuckles on Sasuke's cold hand, her eyes shut. "I will. For you." She whispered. Naruto buried his face into Sasuke's shirt to hide his tears as he hugged the lifeless body.

Haku looked at the two on the ground. Slowly the boy stepped out of the mirror.

"He struck at me without any sign of shirking. He sacrificed himself for you! He was a shinobi worthy of the utmost respect. In order to save those precious to him he threw himself into a trap, knowing full well it was such." Haku stood up and looked down on the two. "This is your first comrade that has died? Such is the path of a shinobi. You will be faced with much more death." Yajuu growled.

She had seen friends die. She had killed them with her own hands. Yajuu trembled, feeling Naruto's anger rise. Her own hurt was turning into hatred. "Shut up." She snarled at Haku, still facing Sasuke's dead body.

Naruto and Yajuu turned towards Haku in unison. Naruto's eyes were fiery red and slitted like a demons. Yajuu's were piercing silver, and also slitted. "I;m going to kill you!" They snarled in unison, their voices like demons.

Haku looked at them in fear.

Yajuu smirked. "Kyuuuuubiiii. The toy is scared. Let's kill him." Yajuu growled out. Yajuu stood up and hunched over, her arms hanging down. A silvery chakra formed around her boy like fire. Yajuu's nails grew into claws and teeth turned to fangs. Naruto's wounds were healed in a matter of seconds as his chakra flared around the crystal mirrors in red waves.

Haku watched as Naruto's chakra formed into a demon fox while Yajuu's took the shape of a wolf like beast. The two growled and hissed at Haku like animals.

"What is this chakra?" Kakashi asked. He could tell which was Naruto and the foxes. But, the second chakra was fowl, fiercer than the demon foxes. Whose was it?

Naruto snarled as he hunched over and stood on the ground on all fours. Yajuu did the same and looked at Haku with wide, hate filled eyes.

Yajuu watched Haku ready senbon and throw them at Naruto and her. The two roared and the senbon were pushed away by the chakra they emitted from their roars.

Haku quickly switched mirrors, causing the two to look around for him. Naruto wasn't able to fully tell the difference, but Yajuu was looking directly above them, her head tilted backwards with ease.

"Sasuke." She yelled before jumping up into the air and spinning her body quickly. The speed she gained from the spin and the chakra she had focused into her foot allowed her kick to the mirror to shatter it. Haku got out just in time, but Yajuu grabbed the front of his shirt and roughly threw him into the ground.

Naruto grabbed Haku's wrist and pulled him up off the ground. The blonde threw him into a mirror. Haku quickly took the impact to enter the mirror and jump to a higher mirror. Haku jumped into his new mirror just as Yajuu had slammed her forehead into it, smashing that mirror as well. Haku fell from the mirror and held a senbon tightly as he launched himself towards Naruto. Naruto jumped to the side, wildly spinning and then stopping himself with his claws on the ground as Haku smashed into the ground. Haku picked himself up off the ground, trying to make it to the nearest mirror. Yajuu jumped and slammed her feet into Haku's back and growl with a smirk. She grabbed hold of Haku's hair; the thick, long locks free from the bun, took a step to the side, and threw his limp body over to Naruto. Naruto grabbed Haku's wrist and clenched his fist, focusing his chakra into this one punch. Naruto roared once again and then locked his fist with Haku's face.

The body broke through the mirrors and skid across the ground. Yajuu and Naruto stood in the center of the shattering mirrors, crystals falling around them. The two quickly ran for Haku, Yajuu;s left fist and Naruto's right readying for contact as Haku;s mask broke and fell to the ground. Naruto stopped himself, gaining control of the fox as soon as he saw who Haku was.

Yajuu on the other hand landed her punch before Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly, instantly calming the enraged girl.

Yajuu looked at the bloody body of Haku's in shock and fear. She could feel Haku's belief in his self worth falter as he stood.

"Why do you spare me? I killed your dear friend didn't I?" Haku asked, followed by a punch in the face once again by Naruto. Haku coughed up blood onto the ground as he picked himself up once again. Yajuu readied for another but Naruto grabbed her wrist and smiled at the brunette girl. Yajuu could sense Naruto's pain and sadness.

"What happened to all that power? Didn't you say you were going to kill me?" Yajuu looked at the ground. "You may think that sparing your enemy is kindness, but you are just making them useless. Giving them defeat then allowing them to live in their failure is not kindness. Don't you see, it's an empty existence. To go on living alone and unloved because defeat's already cost you your dream!"

Naruto growled clenching his fists. "Say what?"

Haku stood on trembling legs. "Zabuza has no need for a weak shinobi. You have taken away my reason for living."

"_Do you have someone precious in your life?"_

"_When a person has something precious they want to protect that's when they can truly become strong." _

"Why waist all that devotion on a creep like him? He doesn't care about who gets hurt or who he hurts! Just so long as someone pays him!: Naruto yelled, pointing angrily at Haku. "Is that browless freak really that precious to you? Your beloved friend?" Haku looked at the ground and smiled.

"Once… I was precious. I belonged to a mother and father. My parents." Yajuu bit her tongue. She'd heard this story once already in the forest on the way to Tazuna's.

"I was born in a little snowy village in the Land of Mist. I was happy. My parents were good and kind people. Good to me. But, just as I was getting old enough to understand the world around me…something happened."

Naruto looked worried. "What… What happened?" Naruto looked over at the almost crying Yajuu for an answer. "Well?"

Haku rubbed the blood from his lips and looked at it closely. "Blood….My blood."

"Your blood? Yajuu what is he talking about?" Naruto said pointing to Haku and looking worriedly at Yajuu.

Haku was silent. Yajuu trembled as she remembered the details of Haku's tragic story. This was a reason why she had so quickly become friends with the enemy. "His father slaughtered his mother and then continued to try and kill him." Yajuu said, Looking at Haku with pain in her eyes.

CH 8

"After a long and seemingly endless civil war, people with kekkei genkai were hated and feared in the land of water." Haku said softly, Yajuu could feel the pain he felt from the memory.

"Kekkei genkai?"Naruto asked, very confused.

"It is a certain jutsu passed down through a clan. Parent to child, grandparent to grandchild. Because of these special powers people of the clans were used in battle and wars as merely a weapon. As a result those with the kekkei genkai were feared and thought to harbor disaster and death." Haku explained. "After the war those with this ability hid it. Anyone found to have the power was to expect death." Haku looked over at Sasuke with a sad look. "I'm sure that boy went through much suffering because of his kekkei genkai."

"The greater your power, the more you were feared." Yajuu said.

"My mother had the kekkei genkai and she thought she could hide it from my father. She must've believed they would have a simple life together. However, father discovered our secret." Yajuu bit her lip and tightly held onto Naruto's. She hated hearing this. Naruto looked at Yajuu worried. Why was she acting like this?

"My father beat my mother to death in front of me and then tried to kill me. I killed him first." Haku snarled at himself. "And, that's when I knew. I knew the most painful thing in the world."

"The most… painful… thing?" Naruto asked softly.

"To know that my existence in the world didn't matter to anyone."

Yajuu winced at her own painful memories of the same thing. Being happy, and then finding herself alone in the world. But she had come to Konaha. She had made 2 great friends, and Haku could've been one of them. Haku had done the same but with Zabuza.

"You said you would become the greatest shinobi of your village and have everyone respect you. If someone comes along and accepts you for who you are…no one could be more important to you than that one person. Even though he knew I had a kekkei genkai Zabuza took me in. My power that everyone feared and hated, he wanted it, needed it. " Haku shivered as tears built up in his eyes. "I was happy."

Yajuu was silently crying. Her grip on Naruto's hand tightened even more. Haku mumbled something to himself and then walked closer to Yajuu and Naruto.

"Yajuu-chan, Naruto-kun! I want you to kill me." Haku said looking at them with pain filled, serious eyes. The two of them took a step back. Yajuu and Naruto were both taken aback by the request made by this boy.

"Kill you?" Yajuu said surprised.

"Kill me!" Haku snapped. "Why do you hesitate?"

"Are you stupid!" Yajuu yelled at Haku.

"You're a weapon for him? How is he special to you?" Naruto asked, trying to figure out how the killing option became an option for Haku.

"Because he cared!" Haku yelled. "Is that so wrong? To die while someone cares for you?"

"N-no." Naruto said softly


	8. Please, Don't Leave Me

**Finally chapter 8 is out! I just thought I'd add a couple of thanks to those who have reviewed so far. Thank you** _**Walker**_**,**_** Simpka-chan**_**, and**_** Lola-yo**_**! I'm glad you guys have liked it. And those people who read it and don't like it, explain how I can make it better so you do like it. Please. Okay, sorry if this chapter is cheesy. I'm going to admit it is. It has some fluff in it.. but nothing toooo serious. Okay then enjoy!**

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><p>"After a long and seemingly endless civil war, people with kekkei genkai were hated and feared in the land of water." Haku said softly, Yajuu could feel the pain he felt from the memory.<p>

"Kekkei genkai?"Naruto asked, very confused.

"It is a certain jutsu passed down through a clan. Parent to child, grandparent to grandchild. Because of these special powers people of the clans were used in battle and wars as merely a weapon. As a result those with the kekkei genkai were feared and thought to harbor disaster and death." Haku explained. "After the war those with this ability hid it. Anyone found to have the power was to expect death." Haku looked over at Sasuke with a sad look. "I'm sure that boy went through much suffering because of his kekkei genkai."

"The greater your power, the more you were feared." Yajuu said.

"My mother had the kekkei genkai and she thought she could hide it from my father. She must've believed they would have a simple life together. However, father discovered our secret." Yajuu bit her lip and tightly held onto Naruto's. She hated hearing this. Naruto looked at Yajuu worried. Why was she acting like this?

"My father beat my mother to death in front of me and then tried to kill me. I killed him first." Haku snarled at himself. "And, that's when I knew. I knew the most painful thing in the world."

"The most… painful… thing?" Naruto asked softly.

"To know that my existence in the world didn't matter to anyone."

Yajuu winced at her own painful memories of the same thing. Being happy, and then finding herself alone in the world. But she had come to Konaha. She had made 2 great friends, and Haku could've been one of them. Haku had done the same but with Zabuza.

"You said you would become the greatest shinobi of your village and have everyone respect you. If someone comes along and accepts you for who you are…no one could be more important to you than that one person. Even though he knew I had a kekkei genkai Zabuza took me in. My power that everyone feared and hated, he wanted it, needed it. " Haku shivered as tears built up in his eyes. "I was happy."

Yajuu was silently crying. Her grip on Naruto's hand tightened even more. Haku mumbled something to himself and then walked closer to Yajuu and Naruto.

"Yajuu-chan, Naruto-kun! I want you to kill me." Haku said looking at them with pain filled, serious eyes. The two of them took a step back. Yajuu and Naruto were both taken aback by the request made by this boy.

"Kill you?" Yajuu said surprised.

"Kill me!" Haku snapped. "Why do you hesitate?"

"Are you stupid!" Yajuu yelled at Haku.

"You're a weapon for him? How is he special to you?" Naruto asked, trying to figure out how the killing option became an option for Haku.

"Because he cared!" Haku yelled. "Is that so wrong? To die while someone cares for you?"

"N-no." Naruto said softly

"I have lost my usefulness that confirmed my existence. Zabuza has no need for a weakling. That's why I am begging you. Please, I'm begging you."

"I don't get it! The only reason for you to live is to stay strong? There must be another way to get others to accept you! Something that doesn't involve fighting!" Naruto argued. Yajuu flinch and reached into her weapons holster. She clutched a kunai and waited.

"Remember when we met in the forest? Do you wish to know what I thought? The three of us. We are much alike." Haku said with seriousness painted on his sad face. "I apologize for making you dirty your hands with my blood.

Naruto looked at his feet. "that's it then. There really is no other way."

Haku nodded. Yajuu wiped the tears from her face as she said, "If only we had met under different circumstances. We could've been friends." She ran at Haku, wincing at the smile on Haku's face. Naruto was close behind her, giving a battle cry.

_'Haku, Sasuke had dreams too.' _Yajuu thought to herself.

She was ready to make contact when Haku's expression changed and he tightly clutched their wrists. Haku released Yajuu's wrist as he did a hand sign. Crystal Ice Mirrors.

"I'm sorry you two I can't die just yet." He said as Yajuu readied for him to attack them. Instead Haku disappeared before her very eyes.

Yajuu turned to where she heard birds chirping. Sounds of electricity filled the air. She quickly began running in the direction of the noise.

"Haku!" She screamed The image of Haku standing between Zabuza and Kaka-sensei with Kaka-sensei's arms shoved through his chest made Yajuu's eyes burn.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, standing behind Yajuu.

Yajuu blocked out everything as Zabuza lifted his sword to slice through the boy. The world seemed to move in slow motion as she pushed Kakashi and Haku away with all of her strength.

Yajuu staggered slightly, her vision blurring as she tried walking forward. She lifted her hand and quickly swiped and Zabuza's face with silvery chakra claws. Her eyes were closing as she fell backwards to the ground, a long gash from her shoulder to her hip bleeding.

"N-Naruto." Yajuu whispered before the world went black.

Naruto watched in horror as Yajuu's body was surrounded in a silver chakra as she reached out and a silver chakra paw formed from her hand and clawed Zabuza quickly. The Demon of the Mist had just run his blade over her body and her chakra saved her from being cut in half. She stumbled and fell back, still wounded severely and bleeding heavily. Naruto ran to her downed body as Sakura, Kakashi, Tazuna and Zabuza watched. Naruto knelt down next to her. He noticed her silver eyes before she closed them. He cried for her to stay awake and with him as she went limp. Naruto stood up and slowly removed his jacket. The shinobi placed it over Yajuu's chest and turned to glare at Zabuza.

-X—

"Sakura, you're heavy." Sasuke groaned as he gained consciousness. Sakura looked at the raven haired boy with tears and snot on her face.

"Sasuke-kun!" She cried repeatedly as she hugged him tightly.

"S-sakura, That hurts." He said as she hugged him. Sakura sat up and helped Sasuke sit up with a teary smile."Naruto… and Yajuu. Are they okay? And what about that masked boy? What happened to him?" Sasuke asked as he held his stomach.

Sakura looked away. "Naruto is fine. The masked boy is dead."

Sasuke looked at Sakura with wide eyes. "Was it Naruto and Yajuu? Did Naruto get him?"

Sakura shook her head. "Well I'm not really sure. He died protecting Zabuza." Sasuke looked at Haku's body lying on the ground.

That's when he saw Yajuu laying at Naruto's feet while the blonde stood. Naruto's orange jacket was lying on her chest. Sasuke looked at the blonde's back.

"What happened to Yajuu?" Sasuke groaned.

Sakura bit her quivering lip. "She died protecting the boy and Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke felt the world collapse around him. Yajuu was dead, just like his family.

Sakura stood up and cried for Naruto. "Sasuke is awake! Sasuke is alive!" Sasuke ignored everyone and everything as he stumbled towards Yajuu. He knelt down next to her as Naruto clone himself along with Kakashi-sensei.

Sasuke knelt down next to Yajuu's body. He looked at the bloody line soaked into Naruto's jacket. He was ready to take it off her chest when Naruto knelt down next to Sasuke.

Naruto placed a hand on Sasuke's to stop him. "You don't want to do that." He said softly. Naruto looked up at the snow falling from the sky. Tears filled his eyes.

"The boy was born in a village where it snowed all the time." Naruto said. Sasuke looked at the two bodies of their enemies lying next to each other.

Kakashi knelt down and picked Yajuu up carefully. When he did he looked down at the girl with wide eyes.

"She's alive." He said to the team. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Kakashi with joy filling their expressions. "But, she is badly wounded."

Tazuna looked at Kakashi worried. "Will she make it?"

"I believe so, but we may be borrowing you house still." Kakashi smiled.

"That's okay. The bridge isn't finished yet so you guys can keep protecting me just in case , while she heals.

Kakashi nodded and smiled. The happiness was back into Sasuke and Naruto.

-X—

Yajuu laid on her back wheezing. Naruto was sitting next to her with a worried look. Sakura bandaged up her enter chest and shoulder and now Yajuu had a fever and nightmares. Naruto was trying not to fall asleep, because it was his turn to watch her.

Naruto needed something to do so he took the now warm washcloth on Yajuu's head, dunked it in cold water and then placed it back on her forehead. Naruto was so worried.

Sasuke sat on the couch downstairs. No matter how much he tried he couldn't sleep. His mind was filled with too much worry. Yajuu almost died on them. If she had Sasuke would've gone straight to Heaven to kick her butt for dying on them. Sasuke had also notice that Naruto was acting weird around her as well.

Sasuke decided since he couldn't sleep he'd go see if Naruto needed some rest.

Naruto sat, eyes slowly shutting despite his wishes as her tightly held Yajuu's hand. "Yaj… Wake up." Naruto flinched when Sasuke opened the door.

"Dobe, go get some rest." Naruto shook his head with his bottom lip stuck out. "Dobe." Naruto ignored Sasuke and continued to stare at Yajuu. "What if she dies at the moment you falls asleep. It would be your fault." Naruto glared at Sasuke. That was a low blow even for the Uchiha. To make a joke about Yajuu when the three of them were so close. "Go." Naruto fought his worry and stood up, leaving the room to go to his bed.

Sasuke sat down next to Yajuu and rubbed the top of her hand with his thumb. She did this to him when he thought he was dying. Yajuu was calmer now, but still clenching her fists tightly. Sasuke laid down behind her and held her tightly in his arms. "You baka. I told you to kill my brother for me didn't I? How are you supposed to do the when you're sick." He asked. Sasuke flinched as Yajuu rolled over and buried her face into Sasuke's chest.

Yajuu gave a weak smile. The weight of Sasuke wrapping his arms around her before woke her. She looked up at the Uchiha and sighed, "Don't be stupid." She whispered and then closed her eyes, falling back into a deep sleep.

-X—

Kakashi kicked Sasuke's leg and sighed. "Sasuke. Get up before Sakura wakes up and has a fit." Sasuke groaned and looked around. The raven haired boy looked down at Yajuu and smiled. Kakashi sighed. This was gross. "I need you to go run some errands for me." He said and rubbed his masked nose. Sasuke sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes.

"Sensei. Yajuu's fever is gone." Sasuke said with a scratchy voice.

"Yes and Naruto and Sakura are ready to get up, so get away from Yajuu before they see you and go get these things from the market for me." Kakashi said and handed Sasuke a piece of paper, a list of food on it as well as medicines. Probably for Yajuu. Sasuke stood up and ran his fingers through his messy hair.

"Okay, let me get cleaned up and I'll go." Sasuke said and walked past Kakashi. The silver haired man looked at Yajuu with worried eyes as she tightly held onto Sasuke's pillow, snuggled up to that now.

-X—

Sakura looked at Yajuu with confused eyes as she looked at the scar now across Yajuu's torso. "It healed so quickly!" She said and looked at Yajuu.

"It did." Yajuu said with a smile. "Does that mean I can get out of bed?" Sakura shook her head.

"Kakashi-sensei says you're to stay in bed until Tazuna is finished with his bridge. The old man is trying to hurry for your sake though." Sakura said as she rubbed some scar cream on Yajuu gently.

"How is Naruto? I haven't seen him in a couple of days." Yajuu asked.

Sakura nodded. "Kakashi sensei is making sure to make him work harder until when he gets back he passes out until morning. He doesn't want you two hanging out because he's afraid you'll goof off and hurt yourself again. And I think Sasuke might've scared him into not coming to see you." Yajuu pouted to herself.

"Then I'm going to change that. Hurry and wrap me up Sakura so I can go stay in Naruto's room!" Yajuu said with a serious look on her face. Sakura sighed.

"Sit up straight and lift your arms." Sakura said with a sigh as Yajuu did was she was told. Yajuu could feel Sakura's relief. Probably because she was no longer going to be in Sasuke's room.

Yajuu was patient and as soon as Sakura finished she was standing only to wobble and fall over. She hadn't used her legs in about a week and was feeling a bit unsteady on them. Sakura giggled and helped Yajuu stand and walk to Naruto's room. Yajuu went digging through Naruto's bag of clothes and grabbed a black shirt with a spiral on the front. "Beautiful." Sakura smiled and got ready to leave before Yajuu said, "don't tell anyone okay?" Yajuu asked Sakura. Sakura gladly nodded.

-X—

Naruto rubbed his eyes sleepily as he opened his bedroom door. He didn't ask himself why the light was on in his room, just went inside. He stood in disbelief as Yajuu was laying on her belly, reading through his comic books and magazines he used to perfect his Sexy Jutsu.

Yajuu looked back at Naruto and smiled. "Hi Naru-kun!" She said happily. Naruto closed the door and quickly through himself at Yajuu for a hug. Kakashi had refused to let him see her this whole time and Sasuke had said that if he tried to sneak into his room he would crush him. With the way Kakashi had been working Naruto the past week, Naruto believe Sasuke would be able to take him down.

"Yaj! I missed you!" He yelled happily. Yajuu smiled and hugged Naruto back, rubbing her cheek against Naruto's. "Are you sleeping in here tonight?" He asked Yajuu nodded.

"Yes! And Kakashi and Sasuke can't make me leave!" She said happily.

-X—

"NO! NO! Kaka-sensei!" Yajuu screamed and yelled as she kicked and flailed. Naruto was gnawing on Kakashi's leg as he tried to make the man let go. "I don't want to go back to that dark boring room!" Sasuke was standing in the door way with a rather pissed off look on his face. Yajuu could feel the jealous coursing through his body.

Yajuu didn't understand why though. Kakashi finally put her down. "You are not going to heal if you stay in here with Naruto. You two are just going to stay up all night screwing around and goofing off!" Kakashi lectured the two of them. Yajuu nodded.

"You're right and I don't care!" Yajuu snapped back. "I'm not sick anymore and my wound has healed! I can go outside and play if I wish!" Kakashi flicked her forehead.

"No, you can't! Not while I'm around!" Kakashi snapped.

Yajuu and Kakashi had a stare off for close to 5 minutes before Kakashi gave up and left the room, annoyed. Sasuke stood in the doorway with a glare on his face before he quickly followed Kakashi.

Naruto and Yajuu stayed up quickly reading manga until they thought everyone else was asleep. Naruto then turned to Yajuu and smiled. Yajuu could feel Naruto's curiosity though.

"Yaj. I have a question." Yajuu blushed. She didn't know why though.

"Yes?" Yajuu asked.

Naruto sat up and faced Yajuu. "When you ran to Zabuza. You…. You were surrounded by a silver Chakra. What was that?" Yajuu blinked and looked away from Naruto.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said and went back to reading before Naruto scooted closer to her and stuck his face into hers.

"Yes you do. You attacked Zabuza with that chakra, fully aware what you were doing." Naruto pouted. Yajuu sighed and sat up as well.

Yajuu rubbed the bridge of her nose and looked at the ground. "I have a demon inside me." She said simply.

"Demon?"

"The general of my home land says my mother was a demon that killed their King and Queen. The demon had left her half human child on a doorstep with 2 seals on her arms. Everyone was told to not mention the demon to me because they didn't know if I would become a demon. And that's how it was until I graduated from the Academy. I have my mother's demon blood inside me."

"Wow." Naruto said with wide eyes. "That's so cool!" He said loudly. Yajuu covered his mouth with a smile.

"Not so loud Naru-kun." She giggled. Yajuu could tell Naruto wasn't lying to her. "Thank you Naruto."

Naruto looked at her confused. "For what?"

"For not being afraid or discussed with me for it." Yajuu said with a joyous smile. Naruto nodded.

"You're my best friend, why would that little detail matter to me? That just means you're really strong." Naruto nodded. Yajuu smiled and laid down.

"Let's get some rest." She said with a smile as Naruto nodded and turned off the light. Naruto laid next to her and the two were out in a matter of seconds, sprawled around the bed mats, talking to each other in their sleep.


	9. You Smell Like a Dog

**Okie dokie. Another dump. but a really small one. This is the last chapter I'm dumping on here unless I finish 10 in the next few hours. This chapter is shorter than the rest. Just so you are aware.**

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><p>"Konaha!" Naruto shouted as they entered into their village gates. "Yajuu! Let's go get some ramen!" He shouted.<p>

"Yea! Ramen!" Yajuu shouted back as they ran to Ichiraku's together, forgetting about their teammates completely.

Yajuu and Naruto sat down on stools next to each other. "This is the boss! He's so awesome! And Ayame as well." Naruto started introducing them to Yajuu. "And they make the best ramen in the entire world! It's soooo good!" The old man blushed.

"New friend Naruto? I haven't seen you around Konaha before." Ayame asked with a cheerful face.

"I'm Yajuu! Naruto's best friend!" She smiled and pointed to herself.

"Naruto here is our best and favorite costumer." Ayame explained and gave Yajuu and Naruto a bowl. "Here, it's on the house. It's to welcome a new costumer and the return of our favorite."

Naruto was already slurping the noodles, shoving meat into his already full face and continuing to eat like this without stopping. Yajuu blushed and slowly ate her first bite. She sucking the noodles up and chewed them slowly before smiled and quickly following Naruto's pace.

Ayame and her father smiled and watched them eat their bowl.

Once the two were done with their food Naruto paid for their extra bowls and they left.

"Naru-kun do you know where I can get some new clothes?" Yajuu asked with a blush. Naruto pouted.

"So you don't like my jacket huh?"

"Dame! That's not it.. I just… I want some stuff of my own." Yajuu said, blushing even harder. Naruto laughed loudly.

"I was just joking, relax. No I'm not exactly sure. I have all my stuff custom made. But I'm sure that we could get the old woman to make you something." Naruto smiled. Yajuu looked at the ground and walked silently.

The two headed for Naruto's seamstress when Sakura and a blonde girl caught their attention by screaming and yelling at each other.

"Ino pig!"

"Billboard brow!"

"Ino pig!"

"BILLBOARD BROW!"

Yajuu blinked and watched the two, trying not to giggle. "Ehm. Hi Sakura-chan." Yajuu said softly. Sakura and the blonde looked at Yajuu.

"Oh.. Hi Yajuu. What are you doing?" Sakura asked, momentarily forgetting about the blonde.

Yajuu blushed and smiled, saying, "Naruto is going to take me to his seamstress so I can have some clothes made." Sakura glared at Naruto before punching him across the street. Yajuu watched in horror as Sakura did this.

"What was that for?" Yajuu asked, worried and defensive of Naruto.

"He's a little perv. Now, Yajuu this is Ino. Ino, Yajuu. Ino I must speak with you for a moment. Yajuu don't move." Sakura said as she turned around and Ino and Sakura whispered to each to her, backs facing Yajuu.

Yajuu didn't move. She didn't even blink as she watched the two girls whisper to each other. She heard Naruto groan in pain and looked over at him, starting to head towards him to help him up. But, just as she moved her leg, Sakura and Ino turned around and Yajuu was back in her original position. "We have decided to push aside our differences for this one time and make you clothes. We refuse to allow Naruto to influence your style, I mean look at him…. What kind of a Ninja wears orange?" Ino said with her hands on her hips.

Yajuu blinked in confusion as Sakura grabbed one of her wrists and Ino grabbed the other. The two girls dragged her away from Naruto quickly. Sakura smirked and said, "We are going to my house." Yajuu looked back at Naruto, smiling as he waved goodbye to her.

-X—

Yajuu blushed as Sakura squeezed the measuring tape around her chest a bit tighter. "S-Sakura-chan?"

Ino and Sakura looked at Yajuu with an evil smile. "Small is good. Very good." They growled to each other as they squeeze the tape even tighter. Yajuu was regretting having these girls make her clothes.

-X—

Sakura and Ino looked at their work with a smile and Yajuu blushed. "Can't I wear something more… well.. more?" Yajuu asked, looking at herself in the mirror and biting on her lip. She could feel the evil running through Ino and Sakura's minds and was worried about wearing the outfit because of it.

Yajuu had on a pair of black shorts and a black long sleeved belly shirt. But on top of the shirt was a jacket. The collar was large like Sasuke's shirt collar. The collar and the sleeves were colored black. From her armpit down the jacket was dark blue besides two straps in the back that were black. Yajuu felt it clashed with her eyes as well but the girls were convinced that it was fine. Not only that, but because Sakura and Ino were convinced Smaller was better the jacket was tighter then she enjoyed.

Sakura and Ino decided it was time to test out their secret evil plan to destroy Yajuu's reputation and offered to introduce her to the other Genin in Konaha. Yajuu, being oblivious at times, agreed.

Ino dragged the two girls over to a barbeque restaurant and walked inside casual. The workers seemed to ignore her completely as if it was normal for Ino to be inside. "I'm pretty sure at least 1 of my teammates is here."

"Choji? The fatso is always here. If he's not at home eating he's here…eating." Sakura said in a stuck up tone of voice. Yajuu bit her lip and blushed. Why was Sakura being so mean?

That's when Ino slammed her hands on a table with 3 people in it. A brunette boy about their age with a ponytail and a bored expression, a chubby red headed that was in the process of shoving his face with food, and a man sticking his hand out of the window with a cigarette in it.

"Choji! Shikamaru! This is Yajuu." Ino introduced the boys to Yajuu. Yajuu smiled and wiggled her fingers at them quickly.

They were silent.

Yajuu fidgeted for a moment before speaking. "I'm an Anbu Black Ops that joined Team 7 until I learn the ways of Konaha." They were still quiet.

Shikamaru sighed and closed his eyes. "What a drag. Of all the teams the Hokage puts the Anbu with he goes for the strongest one. They've got Sasuke why couldn't he stick her on a much weaker team? Or maybe shove her into an Anbu Squad? Did he ever think of that?" Shikamaru groaned.

Choji shrugged and stuffed his face more. Yajuu looked upset. Why was it bad for her to be on a team with Genin?

Sakura noticed the sudden look of hurt on Yajuu's face, punched Shikamaru, and then dragged her out of the restaurant. Sakura sighed.

Yajuu was being dragged to the next squad she had to meet before Kakashi appeared in the girl's path, asking for Yajuu.

"Hokage needs to see her for a moment girls. So I'm going to be stealing her from you." Kakashi said with a smile before grabbing Yajuu's arm and both of them disappearing with a puff of smoke.

Yajuu sighed and rubbed her forehead, sitting on the ground, legs crossed. "Thanks Kaka-sensei."

"You're becoming extremely comfortable with the team now."

Yajuu nodded and laid down on the floor as they waited for the Hokage to show into his office. "I'm not sure what's going on with me to be honest."

"Midlife crisis being solved?" Kakashi suggested.

"Maybe." Yajuu thought. Maybe that was it. She had been suffering for so long because of what she'd done in the past. Hurting for so long. But when she saved Kakashi, well ever since then she had felt better about herself and the world. She was happy. That was the reason why she was so much more comfortable now.

Yajuu sat up when the doors behind her opened up and the Hokage walked into the room. The old man blinked as he took in the sight of seeing Yajuu lazily sitting on the floor, much like a blonde he knew.

"You're becoming affected by your teammates." He said as he sat down at his desk. "Yajuu. I have some good news, and I have some bad."

"Bad new first." Yajuu quickly said. "So the good news will outweigh the bad."

The hokage smiled. "A letter from your homeland says you never went through the Chuunin Exams."

Yajuu nodded. "This is correct. I wasn't allowed to participate, they just shoved me into Anbu."

"Well since you live in Konaha now, that is going to have to be changed. Your status as Anbu Black Ops has been officially removed. So now you are a Genin." Yajuu blinked before standing up and pointing at the old man.

"Are you kidding me? Do you know who long it took me to be trusted enough to get that rank? Do you know how hard I worked to get out of isolation so I could become a shinobi?" Yajuu yelled at the Hokage. This got an awkward look from Kakashi and the Hokage.

"Isolation?"

Yajuu had to think quickly. "It was a test in my home village that most people give up on."

Kakashi looked worried for a moment before looking back at the Hokage.

"I'm sorry Yajuu. But this is how it has to be. The good news though is that you will be able to participate in the Chuunin Exams that will be coming up in a few weeks."

Yajuu glared at the old man before turning around. "Fine." She said before opening the door, walking out and slamming it behind her.

Kakashi sighed. "Gomen, Sir. I guess she has taken on multiple traits of her teammates." The Hokage sighed with a smile before dismissing Kakashi and sitting down to think.

-X—

Yajuu sighed softly and waited for someone to come by her that she knew, but she wasn't seeing anyone. A boy with a puppy in his jacket walked past her without a second thought, until the puppy barked. Yajuu ignored it until the boy turned around and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"um… Excuse me. Hi. My name is Kiba." He said with a toothy grin. Yajuu blushed. Great, the outfit was getting unwanted attention. "This here is Akamaru. He's my ninja hound." Yajuu looked at the puppy with a smile and wiggled her fingers at him, gaining a happy bark from the pup.

"I'm Yajuu. Newest Genin on Team 7." She introduced herself, a mental scowl placed on her face from her new status.

"This little man couldn't help but notice something. Um.. this may sound awkward, but.. well." Kiba started, scratching his messy head of hair.

'_Spit it out already.' _Yajuu grumbled to herself.

"Have you ever heard of something called Inugami?"

"Dog god?" Yajuu asked, one of her eyebrows lifting curiously.

"So you have! Well. You smell like one." Kiba said with a smile. Yajuu closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

"What?"

"You smell like an Inugami." Kiba repeated himself confused. Yajuu quickly locked her fist with his jaw. Akamaru growled defensively. Yajuu quickly stormed off and away from this rude kiba person. Comparing her smell to a dog?

_What's wrong with smelling like a dog? Do you not like it?_

Yajuu stood still and looked down at her belly. It was in her head. She could hear someone talking to her inside her mind.

_Don't be surprised, we've spoke before. I've even let you listen to other Bijuu._

"No, no, no, no! Dame!" Yajuu yelled and started running quickly away from everyone, running to the trees. Running for the shadows.

_Quit fussing. I'm here for a reason._

"Yeah? And what would that be? Huh? The last time you talked to me was when you told me to slaughter my best friend. And then you possessed me!" Yajuu yelled to herself. If someone had been around her they would've thought her crazy. Maybe she was.

_I just was wondering why you took to the compliment so offensively. All he did was say you smelled like a god. Is that a bad thing?_

"Well when the god is a dog, and when the god is you I would rather not have that pointed out." Yajuu grumbled and walked through the dark forest, watching the stars come out in the darkening sky.

The voice didn't speak to her again. She was left in her own silence. Left to think about her past.

Yajuu walked with her eyes on the ground, not noticing the body she was about to run into. Yajuu grabbed the person's shirt, tightly latched onto it and pulled the person down on top of her as she landed on her back, being forced into the ground farther by the body she dragged down with her.


	10. Uchiha VS Foot

**So guys! What's up! Sorry I've been a tad bit lazy lately and haven't written a lot. But my classes are doing good! Oh yea! BTW I made a BETA video... for Yajuu... So I will put the link for it on my profile if you want to see it because I can't figure out how to put links into documents... it sucks.**

**This chapter is extra long to make up for the shortness of the last chapter! Two pages longer. Oh and I am making WA EXTRAS! So I will write a chapter for OVA's but put in the extras. Which is awesome! Because the OVA's are actually pretty awesome! Haha. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter... it's fluffy ^^ hehe get it... fluffy...fluff... adorableness... yea that was a bad pun..  
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**Oh and one more last thing. _TASTE THAT RAINBOW_... You are the bomb ^^ Thank you!**

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><p>"Baka. Watch where you're walking next time and you wouldn't have to deal with me falling on you. Or maybe grab onto something more stable then the person you ran into." Sasuke grumbled, wiping the dirt off his clothes. "What are you doing out here anyway?<p>

"None of your business." Yajuu grumbled, wipping the dirt off her clothes. She could feel Sasuke watching her. Closely.

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Yajuu looked up at sasuke and bit her lip as it quivered. Slowly Yajuu shook her said from side to side. "Dame." She said softly. Sasuke sighed and hugged the crying girl as she tightly grasped onto his shirt.

"You are annoying. I hope you know that." Sasuke teased her with a smiled.

Yajuu nodded, her face buried in his shirt. Sasuke sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It was a joke Yajuu. You're not really annoying." Yajuu didn't respond. "SO tell me what's wrong." Yajuu didn't respond. "If you don't talk I'll turn into Naruto and annoy you to death or until you tell me what's wrong. Whichever comes first."

Yajuu looked up at sasuke, a glare in her eyes and lips pouting. "Oh... Wow… I don't care for stupid faces like that. I was a master at those as a kid." Yajuu sighed and looked away from Sasuke.

"Fine. I have had the worst day imaginable. First Sakura and Ino take me away from Naruto and make me clothes. Now I feel like everyone is staring at me like I'm a freak or something. Shikamaru told me I didn't deserve to be on the team and that Team 7 is the strongest already and it's not fair that you guess get an Anbu on your team. Then the Hokage took my Anbu status away from me and I'm now a stupid Genin after all the crap I went through to become an Anbu. Kiba told me I smelled like a dog and I ran in the woods to talk to myself like a crazy person." Yajuu spilled her guts. Sasuke looked Yajuu over.

"First. I don't think you look like a freak. I think you are trying to become an Uchiha though. Because that outfit looks like something we would wear. The collar and colors make it so. And who cares what Shikamaru says, he's a lazy asshole. So what if you are a Genin? That just means you get to stay on our team longer. And finally, Kiba is from the clan that tames and trains ninja dogs. Don't take it personally. It was probably a compliment; either that or he smelled himself for the first time. You smell beautiful."

"How can you smell me? You've never smelled me before." Yajuu pouted. Sasuke blushed and bit his tongue.

The Uchiha boy leaned in towards Yajuu, placing his nose gently in the crook of Yajuu's neck. "You smell wonderful." He whispered and gently took breathes of her scent in. Yajuu was bright red and quickly pushed Sasuke away.

"Okay I'll trust you. Just don't do that anymore." She said, hugging herself like she was just touched by a disease ridden person. Sasuke blushed more and turned away from Yajuu, scowling.

Yajuu and Sasuke sat silently in the woods. "Oh. And I don't have a place to stay." Yajuu said adding on to her bad news.

Sasuke looked at Yajuu with a worried look. "I have a spare room in my place. It's a large enough home for two people." He said. Yajuu blushed.

"Okay. If you don't mind." Yajuu said softly.

Sasuke nodded and stood up. He held out his hand to help Yajuu up. She took it and stood up slowly.

The two walked out of the forest quietly. When they made it out the two walked through the streets until they were stopped by Naruto.

"Yajuu I've beeeeeee…wow….. You look…. Nice…." Naruto said with blank look on his face. He stared at her for a moment before looking back at the two of their faces. "I was wondering where you went too. Because Sakura and Ino were fighting when I saw them and you weren't with them. SO I thought you might've gone back to Ichiraku, but you didn't. Then I thought you went to my house after they made your clothes, but once I got there I realized that you didn't know where I lived, so then I was looking for kakashi and he said he saw you a few hours before, but then he didn't know where you were. And then Kiba was talking to Akamaru about a new girl smacking him but I didn't think it was you because he was saying you were wearing weird clothing, but I remembered you wearing my clothes, and I didn't think about the new clothes that Sakura and Ino made you. But I guess I found you know so that is a good thing isn't it? Do you want to go eat?" Naruto asked after his long story.

"There's something wrong with him." Sasuke whispered to Yajuu, making her giggle.

"Oh… Sasuke," Naruto glared at the raven haired boy. "You're here." He growled.

"Flower topped hamburgers. That's what I want." Yajuu said, trying to distract Naruto from mentally killing Sasuke, and Sasuke from doing the same.

Naruto looked at Yajuu and smiled. "Okay!"

Sasuke looked at Yajuu confused. "I don't think anyone here will do those. I had never heard of them before you talked about them." Sasuke admitted. Naruto turned around and looked at Yajuu with a worried expression.

"Oh. That's right."

Yajuu tapped her nose gently and thought for a moment. "Then I will make them! To the store!" Yajuu said, grabbing Sasuke and Naruto hands in hers and dragged them away. The two glared at each other for a moment before following the girl.

When they got to the store they saw Choji in the meat section. Yajuu looked at him pondering the different cuts. "Ehm. Excuse me. Choji was it?" The red head looked at Yajuu with a blank stare.

"Yes."

"What is the best kind of Hamburger…would you say. To buy here?" She asked him.

"Well it depends on what it is for." Choji said, placing his hands on his hips as if he were and all knowing master of food.

"Flower-topped hamburgers." Yajuu said with a nod.

Choji gave a sly smile. "So you are aware of the Famous foreign Flower Kingdom Dish." Choji said.

Yajuu nodded happily. "Yep. It's my home. I lived in the Hidden Petals village." Choji raised his hands in the air.

"Then you know all of their food secrets!" He yelled through the store. They got a couple of odd looks, and embarrassed ones from Naruto and Sasuke to have to be around them when they were talking. "Okay. The best thing here would be this meat. It's not nearly as fresh and amazing tasting as the meat you have back at home, but it'll work. And the eggs you should have are these ones here." Choji said handing Yajuu food and smiling happily. Yajuu smiled back to him and when he was done giving her directions she learned over and pinched Choji's cheek.

"You're so cute." She cooed and then walked away. Sasuke and Naruto walked over to Choji, after Yajuu turned the corner, and pointed at him.

"Don't touch her."

"Don't even come near her."

"We have our eyes on you." The two warned the fat boy and then quickly caught up to Yajuu and looked around at the other people.

Yajuu looked back at them and smiled. "He was really nice."

Naruto and Sasuke helped pay for the food.

-X—

Sasuke sat down on his seat pillow on the floor at the table. He looked at Yajuu with a worried look and then looked down at the burger on his plate. Naruto had the same expression. There was a small flower shaped egg sitting on the hamburger. "Try it!" Yajuu said happily as she shoved her face with food.

Sasuke slowly cut a piece of the burger with his chopsticks and then put it into his mouth slowly. He loved it. Naruto loved it as well. The two were done with their burger within 2 minutes. She enjoyed seeing her two best friends enjoy her food. It wasn't even that good, at least compared to the professional cooks in her home land.

"I'm glad you like it." Yajuu said happily and resisted the urge to lick the leftovers off her plate. As soon as Naruto picked his plate up and started licking Yajuu giggled and took after her best friend. Sasuke stared at the two amazed at their disgusting manors. Yajuu could sense Sasuke's disgust and giggled before standing up and grabbing the boys' plates. "I'll do the dishes Tori-Tori." She smiled and left the room.

Yajuu washed the plates slowly as she listened to the two boys grumble stuff to each other. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but she could feel the anger and jealousy running through both boys minds. She wanted them to calm down. To relax. She was trying to think of a way to get them to be happy with each other. Then, for a moment, both boys were filled with joy and calm. But it didn't last long. That was weird.

-X—

Yajuu yawned softly as she sat up, the sun peaking through the blinds on the window. Sasuke was sleeping on the floor after Yajuu had crawled in bed with him because she couldn't sleep on the floor. He said that they couldn't share a bed because there was no need to and he would just sleep in another room if she bugged him. Well Yajuu did, but he was too tired to do anything but roll onto the floor and go back to bed.

She looked onto the floor to find the pale shoulder blades of Sasuke Uchiha being illuminated by the sun shining on his bare back. The blanket he had was covering his hips down and he hugged his pillow like it was a person. Yajuu blushed as she looked at him. His skin looked so smooth. So soft. Yajuu quickly thought about something else. Breakfast actually and then proceeded to walk on top of Sasuke to get to the kitchen.

Sasuke groaned and grabbed Yajuu's ankle quickly as she continued past him. He yanked her leg out from under her and sneered as she landed roughly on the floor. Yajuu quickly took the chance, since her foot was already close enough to sasuke, to kick him in the face, causing his nose to break and start profusely bleeding everywhere.

"AAAAHHHH!" Sasuke yelled and pinched his nos, arms shaking.

"STUPID! You shouldn't have tripped me!" Yajuu giggled and stopped running. She looked behind her to find Sasuke not chasing her.

'_Maybe I shouldn't have done that…' _Yajuu thought.

_Are you sure, stupid?_

Yajuu felt like punching herself in the gut if it meant shutting up the stupid demon. Yajuu walked back into the bedroom and looked at the boy on the floor. He was curled in a ball on his knees, holding back tears as he trembled.

Yajuu pulled Sasuke's head up by his chin and looked at his bleeding nose. "I think it's broken." She said softly and looked at the crooked nose.

Sasuke glared at her. "Are you sure?" He snapped and flicked her forehead. Yajuu glared and looked at the pale boy. He had blood drying on his chest already.

"Do you want me to fix it?" Yajuu asked the boy. She could feel his pain being held back, she could see him holding his tears back. "Sasuke, please. I didn't know you'd get hurt."

"You kicked me in the face!" Sasuke yelled, biting his tongue after snapping. Yajuu stood up.

"Fine! You can fix your own nose! I'm going to eat flower-topped hamburgers!" She said, holding back her own tears. Yajuu quickly ran back out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. "Stupid Sasuke. Stupid foot. Stupid morning. Stupid life." Yajuu grumbled to herself.

Yajuu stood in front of the microwave, watching the hamburger turn inside, when she broke into a fit of tears. She couldn't stop them. Yajuu sat on the ground with her hands hiding her face. She sat like that until Sasuke was standing in next to her with a confused look on his face.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke asked, the blood cleaned off his body and face and his nose bandaged. He looked calm, like nothing had happened, but she could feel his pain still boiling inside him. Now he was feeling worried.

"Nothing." Yajuu stated, knowing full well that he wouldn't accept the answer. After a couple of minutes of Sasuke staring at her with an annoyed look on his face she cracked. "I honestly don't know what is wrong with me right now. I feel the same way I did in the Land of Waves. When Naruto was so riled up it made me riled up. When You were fearless and full of courage when facing Haku, so was I. When you are crying inside I am crying outside."

"I'm crying inside?" Sasuke asked confused. Yajuu nodded. She didn't know how she felt it, how she knew it, she just did. Sasuke held out his hand for Yajuu to take to help her up.

Yajuu took it and went straight to her now cold flower-topped hamburger to heat it up once again. The two ate breakfast in silence.

The two walked silently to the meeting place, a bridge, and waited for Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi to show up. Sakura quickly made it and was quickly latching on Sasuke and cooing over his crooked nose.

Yajuu waited for Naruto with delight, her heart filling with happiness when she saw the blonde head and orange boy show itself in the distance.

"Good morning Sakura-chan! Good Morning Yajuuuuuu." Naruto cried out as he waved his hands in the air happily. When Naruto finally got to their side he looked at Sasuke with an evil glare that Sasuke happily returned. Yajuu watched the two confused.

'_What in the world are they doing? Having a staring contest?' _Yajuu asked herself. The two quickly looked away from each other and turned up their noses. That's when Naruto noticed and began giggling.

"Hehehe, what happened to you Sasuke. Someone trip and fall down the stairs?"

"No. I got in a fight."

"With a giiiiiirl?" Naruto teased some more. Sasuke growled and glared at Naruto again.

Yajuu jumped up to quickly distracted the two of them and yelled, "Where is kaka-sensei!" That got them.

-X—

"Good morning! Hi!" Kakashi said with a smile and a hand raised towards them. He was an hour late. "Today… I got lost."

Naruto and Sakura were quick to react and yelled at him, "LIAR!"

Yajuu pouted at glared at Kakashi, and that's when the silver haired man wished he wasn't late. "Kaka-sensei I was waiting so long! We could've taken Sasuke to the hospital in this time! Not okay! A shinobi must always be prepared! Not late!" Yajuu scolded the older man.

Kakashi bowed a couple times. "Gomen, gomen Yajuu-chan."

This got Sasuke confused. _'Kakashi has a soft spot? No that can't be it…. Or maybe it is… He has been acting weird when talking about Yajuu since yesterday when we got back. Is it the outfit? No… Damn, what did Yajuu say Kakashi needed her for again?'_ Sasuke couldn't remember, thus halting his detective progress.

"Hey, hey. Kakashi-sensei! Our group Seven always has the easy missions lately! Aren't there more exciting mission where I can be more active, Where I can use my Way of the Ninja and my soul? You know?" Naruto asked, a fire burning in his eyes.

"Oh…hai, hai, hai, hai. I basically understand what you're trying to say." Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head.

Naruto growled and glared at Sasuke. Sasuke wasn't even paying attention to Naruto, he was too busy talking to Yajuu about how he didn't need to go to the hospital. Yajuu looked back at Naruto and blushed. Sasuke looked at Naruto with a blank stare. He hadn't even heard what Naruto was talking about.

Yajuu winced slightly as Naruto clenched his fist and the fire in his eyes continued to burn. "Uh… Naru-kun?" Yajuu asked and touched his shoulder.

Naruto clenched both fists and cried out, "That's what I'd like to say, dattebayo!" Everyone looked at him confused.

"Say what Naru-kun?" Yajuu asked. That's when Naruto took off running away. Kakashi sighed.

"Hey! What're you doing, Naruto? You're going the wrong way!" Kakashi shouted at the blonde boy. Quickly the orange ball in the distance came closer again and ran past them.

"I knew that!" He said quickly. Yajuu giggled and ran after Naruto, Sasuke following behind closely.

-X—

Yajuu walked between Sasuke and Naruto with a smile, rubbing the dirt off his cheeks. "You need to be more careful next time, Naru-kun. You need to use your head, not just let this competition you've got going on come between you two." She scolded the blonde. Naruto blushed. All day long they had been dealing with Naruto pulling the plants they were supposed to be weeding, falling off waterfalls and being saved by Sasuke, and then walking a big dog into a mine field. Luckily the dog was unharmed.

"You're so reckless!" Sakura scolded.

"You're so much trouble." Sasuke smirked and watched Naruto fill up with jealousy.

Naruto pushed away from Yajuu and yelled out, "Zazugue!" loud enough to get Sakura to shove her hand in front of Naruto. This stopped the blonde.

"If you act up anymore, I'll finish you!" She snapped with an evil look in her eye. Yajuu watched in disbelief. Kakashi was standing there with a bored look on his face while Sasuke just continued to walk away. These guys were used to this, and rather expectant of it.

"Teamwork hasn't been very good lately, has it Yajuu-chan." Kakashi sighed. Yajuu blushed.

"Guys!" Yajuu whined loudly. "Our teamwork sucks!"

"That's right! That's right, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted out, his fist raised at the raven haired teen. "Sasuke, you're to blame for the poor teamwork! You're always attracting attention, teme!"

"That's you, baka. If you don't want to owe me big time…" Sasuke stopped walking away and looked back at Naruto. "You just need to become stronger than me!"

Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other again.

'_Great another staring contest.' _Yajuu groaned in her mind.

"Well then. Perhaps we should disperse. I do need to submit a mission report." Kakashi said.

Sasuke shrugged it off and turned around again. "Okay, then I'm going home." He said plainly and began walking away. "Yajuu don't be late for dinner." He ordered the brunette, causing her to blush and silently nod.

"Oh! Ne, Sasuke-kun, wait for me!" Sakura yelled and ran after him. Yajuu and Naruto groaned.

Naruto looked rather depressed and Yajuu could feel it growing inside him, making her depressed.

"Ne, How about… Why don't you and… Why don't we work on improving our teamwork together?" Sakura said with a blush and a great big smile. Sasuke looked bored.

"You're just like Naruto. If you have time to spend on me, why don't you practice a Jutsu! To tell you frankly, your abilities are less than Naruto's!" Sasuke snapped at Sasuke before walking away again.

Yajuu could feel Sakura's self esteem get blown away, like a mere leaf in the wind.

Naruto perked up though. "Sakura-chan! Just let Sasuke be, and let's practice together!"

But this seemed to make Sakura more upset than she already was, and Yajuu knew that now was the time to take a step back and hope she wasn't in the crossfire.

Kakashi disappeared with a poof of smoke, cause Naruto to smirk in delight.

But Sakura and Naruto were not able to make it to pumbling and flirting with each other. Instead a box painted like a rock got in the way, and crawled up right behind Naruto. Yajuu sighed.

'_Now that…that is pathetic.' _Yajuu thought to herself.

Naruto stared at it for a moment before he started running back and forth, the box rock following him the entire time.

Once Yajuu started to get bored of the running and chasing Naruto stopped and faced the box head on with his finger pointed at it.

"There's no such thing as a perfectly square rock with perfect holes!"

Yajuu sighed. _'Are you sure captain obvious?' _She thought. She looked at Sakura and noticed that she and the pinkette were having the same feelings. Or more, Yajuu's feelings and attitude were being affected by Sakura's.

"It's totally obvious!" Naruto shouted at the box.

A cocky laugh emerged from inside the box and a little voice said, "Just what you'd expect from the man I respect! You are my rival, aren't you!"

The box exploded with three colors and three kids, which looked to be 7 or 8, were left in its place, coughing at the smoke.

"That was too much gunpowder guys." A little blonde boy with spiky brown hair coughed at the other two. Yajuu thought this kid looked familiar, but she couldn't place it.

The three kids sat on the ground staring at Naruto for at least a minute before jumping up into formation, yelling out their battle titles.

"With an adult sexiness! I'm Moegi of the senior clas at Kunoichi Preschool!" The only girl in the group shouted, her hand on her hip and her fingers placed in an upside-down peace sign.

"I love factoring! Udon!" a brunette boy with straight hair and glasses said, crossing his arms stupidly.

"Finally! The most brilliant Ninja in the village! Konohamaru!" The spiky haired kid shouted out. "And the three of us together make the Konohamaru Gang!"

Naruto stood, looking bored, and said, "Yeah… I knew it was Konohamaru and friends."

Yajuu blinked with a blank stare before jumping up and squealing. "Konohamaru!" She shouted and grabbed the small boy, holding him in her arms. She remembered now. This was the little boy that showed her around the village before taking her to the Hokage when she first arrived. She cooed and rubbed her cheek against the smaller boy's while Naruto and Konohamaru's friends just watched.

Konohamaru tried to wiggle away from Yajuu before reaching to Naruto. "Naruto! Help me! She's scaring me!" Naruto smirked and shook his head. "Naruto! Boss! Please!"

"Nope… she'll let you go eventually." Naruto said, letting Yajuu finish her cuddling of the small boy.

Yajuu let him go eventually and pouted. "Does Konahamaru-kun not remember me?"

Konohamaru looked at Yajuu in complete horror. "No! Who are you?"

"Yaaaajuu!" Yajuu said and pointed at herself. "You showed me around the village when I first moved here. I had a doggy mask…" Konohamaru looked at her again before smacking his forehead.

"OH! It's you! I didn't know what you looked like! You have really pretty eyes! And soft cheeks." Konohamaru said pinching and pulling on her red cheeks. Just like Naruto.

"Hey…why are you all wearing goggles?" Naruto asked the kids, gaining their attention again.

"We're just copying what you used to do, nii-san!" Konohamaru said with a large grin.

'_Naruto used to wear goggles?'_ Yajuu thought and looked at the blonde. They must've been his head gear before he got his hitai-te.

"Oh…." Naruto said, bored once again. Yajuu looked at him and smirked. She could feel his excitement bouncing through him. So, then why was he acting so uninterested by these kids?

"'Oh'… That's it? Your reactions have been pretty cold to us these days!" Konohamaru scolded Naruto.

"So, did you want something?" Naruto asked, still playing the cool kid card.

"Boss, do you have any free time now?" Moegi asked.

Naruto smirked. "Nah! I have to train!" He said pointing at himself.

"Whaaaaaaat? You said you'd play Ninja with us today!" Konohamaru pouted loudly.

Yajuu looked at Naruto. "Oh did I?" Naruto asked.

Sakura walked over to the loud group, a depressed aura around her. "A Ninja playing Ninja huh? That's not pathetic at all."

Naruto blushed and looked at Sakura. "W-what is it?" Naruto started blushing uncontrollable and laughing stupidly.

"Naruto… who's she?" Konohamaru asked. Yajuu bent don't to answer when Konohamaru had a lightbulb moment.

"You've been busier than I thought, bro…" Konohamaru said, patting as high up on Naruto's back as he could.

"huh?" Yajuu looked at Naruto confused.

"Is she your…" Konohamaru smirked and lifted his pinkie. Yajuu blushed. That was a symbol of marrige.

"NO!" Yajuu yelled as she stood up.

"Shucks, you guys are sharp for kids!" Naruto blushed. Yajuu and Sakura stared at Naruto with anger in their eyes.

"Not a chance!" Sakura screamed and punched Naruto square in the face.

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><p><strong>Side not... I just noticed that I said that Sasuke has a spare room... and then she ends up sleeping in his bed... and he is on the floor... Wow... Little bit dependent on the Uchiha are we? And he seems to be gaining some traits from Yajuu like snuggling with pillows. Now a final notice. I'm sorry for any errors in this. I actually didn't show this chapter to my Beta Reader...well because I'm already behind in writting so I just shoved it up here.<strong>


	11. Dynamic Pupil of Youthful Power

**Oh I'm a horrible person. I'm sooo LAZY! But at least I'm being honest. Sesshulover I'm glad I could make you giggle ^^ I hope I can continue to make you giggle in the future. I am I officially done with Disc 2 of Boxset 2! Yay! took me long enough...**

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><p>"Oniichan!" Konohamaru yelled out. Yajuu walked over to Naruto slowly, looking it his swollen red cheek as Udon and the others ran to Naruto's aid. Yajuu shrugged and stepped back. Sakura looked at Yajuu with a smirk.<p>

Konohamaru turned to face Sakura and screamed, "You ugly wench! Ugly wench!" as loud as he possibly could. Yajuu giggled to herself before looking at Sakura in fear.

The pink haired teen was not proud of this name. Not at all. She popped her fingers slowly and started stomping over to Konohamaru.

Sakura beat the living crap out of Naruto and Konohamaru before walking away, her chest puffed out with air and fists still clenched.

"Oweeeee." Naruto groaned as Yajuu knelt down to help the blonde up.

Konohamaru decided to open his big mouth again and say, "Darn that broad foreheaded ugly wench! Is she even a girl?" Yajuu and Naruto looked at Konohamaru in shock.

Yajuu picked up Konohamaru and covered his mouth. "Do you want to get us all killed!" She screamed at him.

Everyone stood frozen as Sakura slowly turned around, an evil smile on her face. It was like an army tank slowly turning around, alarms going off in everyone's minds.

For a moment she just stood there looking at them. But, as soon as Sakura started running at them the group turned around and ran away screaming in fear. Konohamaru feared most for his life because he was running faster than all of them, and not paying attention to where he was running.

The small spiky haired boy ran straight into another person, who didn't even falter when he was hit. Konohamaru sat on the ground, rubbing his butt slowly.

The person he ran into was a teen maybe a year older than them all, around 14ish? He wore a black jumpsuit and had what looked like a mummy strapped onto his back. A girl about the same age stood next to him, her hands on her hips. She was blonde and wore her hair in 4 different pigtails. She had on a tan dress with fishnet sleeves and tights. She held a fan that was bigger than herself.

"That hurt." The boy said with a growl.

The group looked at them in confusion. Who were these guys? Yajuu looked at them and fidgeted slightly. These guys were not from Konoha. They wore a Sand hitai-te. So, why were they here?

The boy quickly snatched up Konohamaru up by his scarf and smirked. "That hurt you little punk!" Yajuu grabbed Naruto's sleeve and held him back.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto shouted out for the boy, allowing Yajuu to gently hold him back.

The girl with the boy looked annoyed and rather bored. "Knock it off. Do you want to get yelled at later?"

Sakura took a step forward as she apologized. "Gomenasai! I was fooling around, it's my fault." Naruto was officially annoyed now.

He went into moron mood and yelled at the mystery teen, "Hey! Stop! Let go of him!"

Yajuu tightened her grip on Naruto's arm, telling him to knock it off.

"Let's play with them before the strict one comes around." The boy said with a smirk. The girl sighed and rubbed her nose. Konohamaru squirmed and started kicking the boy's chest. "You're pretty lively, you little punk."

Naruto looked at Yajuu with anger in his bright blue eyes. Yajuu sighed and let the boy go. Naruto quickly ran at them, yelling, "You jerk!"

Yajuu watched as Naruto suddenly fell back and sit up slowly. What made him fall like that? She looked at the man and noticed his hand opened and his fingers wiggling slightly. He was using his chakra somehow.

"Leaf Village Genin are weaker than I thought." The boy said with a bored look on his face.

"Konohamaru." Naruto growled softly.

Konohamaru squirmed more as the grip on his neck tightened. "It…. It hurts." He said softly.

Naruto stood up again and pointed at the foreigner. "Hey you moron! Let him go or you'll have to pay the consequiences!" Yajuu sighed and covered her face with her hands.

She quickly came up behind the blonde and put him in a head lock. "Naru-kun! Shut up!" She growled softly at him. "What are you planning on doing by getting him all worked up?"

"You're ticking me off. I don't like runts anyway. On top of that you're a smart aleck for someone younger than me." The boy gave an evil toothy grin. He tightened his grip once again and said, "Make me want to break him."

Yajuu looked at the kid in terror. _'Is this guy nuts? He's just a stupid kid! Ignore him if he's bugging you! That's what Sakura does!' _Yajuu looked back at Konohamaru's friend and watched them cry.

"It's not on me." The girl sighed.

"Well, after this chibi, it's the chibi that won't shut up!" He snarled.

Yajuu and Naruto started running for Konohamaru when a small object was tossed and smacked the boy's hand hard enough to make him bleed. Konohamaru was dropped and Yajuu and Naruto looked in the direction the object was thrown from.

Sasuke sat in a tree, tossing a small stone in his hand. Yajuu smiled brightly, until it hit her that he had just been sitting there this whole time.

"Sasuke! What took you so long?"

Sasuke ignored Yajuu. "What do you think you're doing in someone else's Village?"

Sakura squealed. Naruto looked annoyed.

"Another punk to tick me off." The boy snarled, holding his hand in pain.

Sasuke stopped tossing the rock and crushed it in his hand easily. Yajuu smacked herself in the forehead. "Get lost." Sasuke said coolly as he let the now sand fall from his hand slowly.

"WOW! SO COOL!" Moegi, Udon and Sakura all cheered.

Naruto and Konohamaru stood with tears running down their face. Embarrased tears. Konohamaru pointed at Naruto and cried, "Naruto oniichan, You're lame!"

Naruto quickly knelt down and placed his hand on the crying boy's shoulder. "S-stupid! I would've taken down that thug too!"

Yajuu could feel Naruto's anger. Great.

"Hey! Why don't you get down from there. You're the kind of smart aleck chibi punk that I despise the most." The boy said and grabbed his mummy…thing and started unwrapping it.

"Wait! You aren't thinking of using Crow, are you?" The girl said in shock. Yajuu looked at the mummy thing for a moment, confused. But her mind was quickly distracted when she felt bloodlust fill the air.

Yajuu began to tremble as the feeling began to overcome her. Naruto noticed Yajuu's shivers and quickly went to hug her; unaware as to why she was so scared. Then everyone knew why she was trembling with a need for blood in her eyes.

"Kankuro, stop that." A red headed boy said. He stood upside-down on a tree branch right beside Sasuke, but it looked like the Uchiha hadn't even noticed him there. "You're an embarrassment to our village." He said calmly as the boy and girl foreigners looked at him in fear.

"g-gaara." Kankuro said with a worried smile. Gaara looked towards Yajuu's direction with anger. Yajuu looked up at him and growled softly, her eyes starting to swirl into a silver. Naruto quickly poked her cheeks and forced her to look at him.

"Yaj.. He what's going on? You're not letting it control you are you?" Naruto said, trying to get her to focus on him. It worked.

Yajuu calmed down as the other's started to notice her weird behavior.

"Thanks naru-kun." She said happily and then looked at the others with a brave look.

Gaara and Sasuke had been watching her the whole time though, and noticed the sudden change. Sasuke's detective skills were failing him as he battled himself inside as to why she was so weird all of a sudden.

"Why do you think we came all the way here to the Leaf Village?" Gaara growled.

Kankuro looked like he was going to pee his pants. "P-please listen G-gaara. T-they lashed out first."

"Shut up. I'll kill you." Yajuu looked at the reaction from the girl and guy and was shocked. They gave up so easily with this guy.

"I understand. I was in the wrong. Gomen, gomen." Kankuro said, his voice trembling.

Gaara looked in the groups' direction and said, "I'm sorry about that." Gaara quickly turned into sand and then let his body fall and reform next to the girl. "Let's go. We didn't come here to play around." Gaara said, his back facing everyone as he started walking away.

"Hold it!" Sakura said and ran in the front of the kids. The 3 stopped and looked back at her. "Judging by your hitai-te you're Shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Sand, right? Without question, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allied nations. But the arbitrary coming and going of Shinobi is supposed to be prohibited by the treaty. State you're purpose!"

The girl sighed and looked at Sakura, clearly annoyed. "Hmph! So this is what they mean by the darkest place being under the candlestick. Don't you know anything? My permit." The girl said and lifted her card up for them to see. "As you say, we're Sand Village Genins from the Land of Wind. We came to this village to take the Chuunin exams."

"Chuunin Exam?" Naruto asked, confused.

Yajuu looked at the group with wide eyes. "You mean the exam is coming up?"

"What is the Chuunin Exam anyways, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

The girl smirked and folded her arms. "You really don't know anything do you?"

Konohamaru went over to Naruto and whispered loudly to him, "Oniichan, if you pass the exam you can become a Chuunin from a Genin!"

"I see! Then, maybe I'll try taking them!" Naruto said with a huge smile. Yajuu grumbled to herself. No one had answered her question yet.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree carefully and with ease. "Hey! You there. What's your name?" Sasuke inquired to group. Yajuu groaned. That Kankuro kid had said it like 15 times!

The girl turned around and pointed at herself. "Wh-what, me?"

"No! The gourd next to you!" Sasuke snapped.

Gaara turned and faced Sasuke, saying, "I'm Gaara of the Desert. I have an interest in you and the girl as well. What's your name?"

"Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke said with a cocky smile. Yajuu bit her tongue, refusing to say anything to this freak. Silence filled the air as well as tension.

"Say! Say! What about me? What about me?" Naruto asked, pointing to himself, ruining that tension.

"Not interested." Gaara said and jumped away. Yajuu looked back at Naruto who was sitting down talking to Konohamaru.

Sasuke moved to touch her shoulder and gain her attention. "Hey… Yaj.. What was that all about? Your eyes changed color and you were growling at him. You know that right?"

Yajuu blushed and shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about Tori-tori. Maybe the tension was getting to you?" Yajuu tried lying. She smiled and walked over to Naruto's side, hugging him quickly. "Naru-kun, I think you looked strong!"

"Sasuke I won't lose to you!" Naruto shouted loudly.

Sasuke looked at him confused. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

-X—

Sakura, Sasuke, Yajuu and Naruto all stood in the meeting place. A now very familiar bridge to the group. It had been a few days since the informal meeting of the Sand Village Ninja and Yajuu had noticed plenty of other Nations walking around the village. Every nation but her own. They had never participated in the Chuunin Exams. Not once.

"Say! Say! What is it with him and calling us out all of a sudden? And, then showing up late?" Sakura squealed.

Naruto punched the air as he loudly yelled, "That's right! That's right!"

"What's he going to do about the feelings of a maiden who accidentally overslept and resigned herself to no blow-drying?" Sakura growled out.

Naruto was just as cheerful as ever. "I overslept, so I haven't washed my face and didn't brush my teeth, dattebayo!"

Sakura looked at Naruto as if he had a disease. "Y-you… that's gross."

Saskue looked annoyed, but Yajuu could tell he was just sleepy. The two had gotten in a fight once again, but this time Sasuke was gaining a bruise on her ribs. Yajuu had kicked him multiple times, instead of once in the face.

Yajuu sat on the railing next to Sasuke and hummed gently as they waited for Kakashi.

Yajuu and Sasuke both looked up and noticed Kakashi crouched down on the wood above the bridge. "Hey, good morning, guys. Today I got a bit lost on the path of life."

Sakura and Naruto pointed at Kakashi with a glare. "Right! That's a lie!"

Kakashi jumped down, preparing himself for Yajuu's routine scolding. But when he stood there waiting, nothing happened. She just stood smiling away.

"uh…well. This is sudden, but I recommended you guys for the Chuunin Exam, so here are your applications." He said handing the cards out to the four. Everybody took them quickly and looked them over excitedly. "That being said, the recommendations are not compulsory. You guys are free to decide whether you take the exam or not."

Naruto and Yajuu jumped onto the man quickly, latching onto him. "Alright!" Screamed Naruto.

"I love you, Kaka-sensei!" Yajuu squealed.

Kakashi flailed and desperately tried shaking them off. "Hey! Guys! Get off already!" He took a few steps back before saying, "Only those who want to take the Exam, sign that application and come to Room 301 of the Academy at 3:00 p.m. five days from now. That's all!"

"Chuunin Exam! Chuunin Exam!" Naruto cheered happily.

-X—

"I bet lots of strong guys would be there!" Naruto looked over and Glared at Sasuke, who was once again, not paying attention to him at all. Sasuke was busy smacking Yajuu's hand sas she tried to poke his bruises.

-X—

The group had all spilt up and gone in separate directions, and Yajuu was now left all alone. She was walking through the village and talking to herself. She was surprised when a black haired man with long spiky hair touched her shoulder. She looked up at him and smiled.

"yes?" Yajuu asked the man. He must've been around his mid 20's.

"Oh.. You're not her." He said softly. Yajuu looked at the man confused.

"Who are you looking for?" She asked.

The man stared at her for a moment. "You have her eyes though. And her hair." He said gently touching her hair. Yajuu blushed and took a step back.

"Um, sir? If you need help finding a last person I can offer that service, but I'd rather you not touch me." Yajuu said with a confused look.

The man bowed. "Gomen ma'am. I have mistaken you for someone else."

_"Well no duh moron. I've already said that.'_ Yajuu thought.

"I will not trouble you anymore." He said and quickly disappeared. He was a shinobi? But she hadn't seen a symbol or a hitai-te on him.

_'Someone with my eyes?' _

_ Hey, I think I've seen him before. _

_ 'Did you know him before being sealed into me?'_

_ I think so_

Yajuu thought about this. What a strange encounter.

She continued to walk through the village with a skip in her step. She decided she wanted to take a walk through the forest. She hadn't been there since she first showed up in the Village.

Yajuu walked through the woods smiling, listening to the sounds of the birds and animals. The wind gently blowing. She continued through until she heard the sound of someone kicking wood. Yajuu was curious and followed the noise to a boy in a green jumpsuit, ramming his leg quickly into the trunk of a tree.

She watched as he counted out loud, and smiled at his work.

"If I don't make it to 2,000 sidekicks then I will do 4,000 hand-stand push-ups!" He shouted out as he counted more. Another 4 to go and he wouldn't have to do the push-ups. Yajuu stepped out from behind the bushes she hide behind and walked closer to him. This kid was different from her team.

"Excuse me?" She said softly and watched as the boy jumped into the air, yelling. She looked at him and blinked confused.

"Oh , you snuck up on me my fair maiden! I apologize for the unpredictable jump and scream." He said and stood up straight. Yajuu stared at him with a surprised look. From behind this guy looked awesome. From the front… He looked like a bushy-browed monster with wide eyes.

"My name is Rock Lee! I am the star pupil of the mighty Might Guy-sensei!" The boy announced. Yajuu giggled.

"My name is Yajuu. I'm the peace keeper of Kaka-sensei's team." She smiled.

Rock lee stared at her confused for a moment. "Kaka-sensei?"

Yajuu blushed and nodded. "Kakashi? Do you know him?"

Rock lee clenched is fist quickly. "Do I know him? Of course I know him! He is the mightiest rival of my sensei!" Yajuu giggled once again. This kid was different. He watched her smile with a large one of his own. "Your cheery personality shows the youth springing to life within you! I have made my decision! I will take you in as my pupil and show you to Guy-sensei!"

Yajuu stopped smiling. "Pupil? I… I don't know about"

"You cannot deny it! The youth inside you! I will make you stronger my pupil!" He shouted out into the forest. "Now! We must go Yajuu!" He said and grabbed her hand, running quickly through the forest, faster than her legs could take her.

"LEEE! I CAN'T RUN THIS FAST!" She shouted and screamed as her leg caught a hold of a tree root, tripping her and dragging Lee down with her in a youthful whiplash fashion.

Lee groaned and rubbed his knees. Yajuu groaned and sat up in the dirt. That didn't feel great. She looked at Lee with a blush and then looked away. Lee knelt down and wiped the dirt off her cheeks.

"I apologize fair maiden. I did not realize that you could not keep up with my youthful speed. This will be one of the things I will help you work on!" He shouted again and smiled. Yajuu reached her hands out for Lee's cheeks and gently pat them.

"I want a piggyback if we run." Yajuu pouted. Lee stood and placed his hand on his hips in a youthful way.

"Of course you may latch onto my back. We must reach Guy-sensei before he embraces his rivalry with Kakashi." Rock Lee said. Yajuu jumped up and quickly crawled onto his back and hugged his neck. "Are you ready Yajuu-chan?" Yajuu nodded and they started off towards this mighty Guy-sensei. Yajuu thought about what this man must look like.

Once they got to him she gave an embarrassed sigh.

"So this is your pupil now? How amazing it is that my Lee has taken on his first pupil. And at such a young age! You're youth is glowing Lee!" Guy shouted and the two embraced each other tightly. Yajuu watched with a shocked look on her face. This Guy-sensei looked exactly like lee, but Kakashi's age.

"My eyes are melting." Yajuu whispered.


End file.
